Resonance of the Heart
by Silken Ink
Summary: Despite everything telling her it was a horrible idea, despite her best intentions, she fell in love with none other than her own weapon partner. Now what? ... This is a 'what-if' sort of story focused on Maka and her relationship with Soul over the course of the original plot, with plenty of tweaking.
1. Chapter 1

"Soul! Wake up! We're gonna be late!" Maka Albarn burst into the room of her roommate and partner - out of breath, irritable, and not entirely ready for class herself.

She had slept through her alarm thanks to staying up late studying, and Soul…well he was always late. In everything he did. Unless she kicked his butt into gear.

The chaos that ensued shortly after her announcement was tantamount to insanity. Both of them rushed for the bathroom, fought over the toothpaste, shoved each other out of the way to spit into the sink, and then argued over toilet privileges, which Maka won through a Maka Chop. As soon as they switched places Maka had breakfast going - simple toast and some yogurt that they could down in mere seconds. Then they were both dressing, tumbling out of their respective rooms with their clothes mostly on properly, and nearly collided in the hallway. They tripped over each other on the way out as they pulled on socks and took turns hopping on one leg as they put on their footwear. How they got down the stairs without injury neither of them knew, nor did they particularly care.

Mornings were not usually like this, thanks to Maka's penchant for getting up obscenely early - in Soul's opinion - but the general manner in which they acted around each other was pretty much the same. At this point, after they had been best friends, partners, and roommates for so long, they were perfectly comfortable with each other. They spent their days hanging out, pissing each other off, and working together at the Death Weapon Meister Academy.

"Soul! Slow down! You're speeding!" Maka squealed, flinching as they barreled around a corner at a sharp angle on his bright orange motorcycle.

"You said it yourself - we're late! Make up your damn mind, Maka!" He bellowed back, and then added, "Just hold on tighter if you're so scared!"

Maka scowled, but scooted closer to his warm body and wrapped her arms tighter around his waist, clinging to his yellow and black leather jacket like her life depended on it, which it probably did. Still though, she felt a bit weird about it.

Physical contact itself between them was normal. They lived together, bounced off each other frequently, and tussled on a regular basis. Plus, Soul had a tendency of being impulsive and impatient and would often just reach over her to get something if she didn't move out of the way fast enough. All of that physical contact was fine, but _embracing_ him so tightly like this was just weird. Normally she held onto him more loosely while riding backseat on his motorcycle, which was never a problem since she had such good balance and normally he didn't go this fast. But, to avoid being late she put up with it, her stomach flip-flopping all the way to school.

When they arrived she was more than ready to hop off the bike, and as soon as she dismounted she was promptly barreling up the unending staircase. The two of them only just barely made it to class before the bell rang. Both slumped into their seats, out of breath and sweaty - and in Soul's case, grumpy and irritable. Maka had dragged him along behind her most of the way to the classroom, and Soul was not a morning person so running was not on his list of fun things to do after waking up.

Being cranky meant that he was not altogether thoughtful about what he was going to say before saying it, and so the first thing out of his mouth - once he caught his breath - was rude. "For such a skinny thing you sure do like to throw your weight around."

She sent him a sharp look. "If I hadn't we would have been late."

"So? A few minutes past the bell never killed anyone."

"Soul! You know I hate being late!"

He rolled his eyes at her flare for the dramatic. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't drag me along with you next time."

It was at this point that their teacher, who just so happened to be Maka's father at the moment, decided to pay attention to the fact that half the class were talking amongst themselves instead of listening to the start of his lecture. Naturally, he singled out Soul and ignored the fact that his darling daughter was also talking. Spirit had a bit of a grudge against Soul, and used every opportunity he could to confront the white haired teen. Maka was pretty sure at least eighty percent of his dislike for Soul stemmed from jealousy that she spent so much time with Soul and none at all with him.

Of course Soul was also aware of the fact that Maka's father didn't seem to like him, so neither of them were surprised by the fact that Spirit took the opportunity to scold Soul in front of the class. While being reprimanded by the teacher would have bothered Maka - her grades and academic standing being extremely important to her - Soul obviously couldn't have cared less. His lazy posture and bored expression didn't change one dot as he listened to her father chewing him out for failing to pay attention in class. If anything, he just seemed to get even more bored.

Once her father saw fit to continue the lecture, it wasn't long before Soul had slumped back all the way in his chair and his head lolled. The very soft snoring and line of drool that began to trek down his cheek was a clear indication he had checked out of school mentally. It wasn't surprising, he often fell asleep in class - particularly their first class of the day.

The rest of the day went much the same way, being one of those days where waking up on the wrong side of the bed had a persistent negative affect on both mood and luck. Soul continued to be ever-so-slightly grumpy, and Maka couldn't shake the slight edge that came from having her morning all messed up. Naturally, Black Star and Soul got into a fight at one point, which thankfully was more of a friendly fight and served to work out some of the frustrated energy in Soul. However, watching the fight only served to aggravate Maka more, as she wondered at the stupidity of her and Tsubaki's weapons.

At least the fight gave Tsubaki and Maka some time to visit, which soothed Maka's ruffled feathers some, but the fight still ended with a dual Maka Chop on both boys' heads when the scuffle threatened to make them late for their last class.

By the time Soul and Maka went out that evening to hunt a kishin egg, she was ready to expend some of her frustrated energy.

Jack the Ripper was easy enough to find. All they had to do was follow the sounds of feminine screams. Atop a set of tall stairs, Maka paused, looking down at the humanoid demonic creature with knives for fingers, long skinny limbs, a bloated belly, and metal and leather straps everywhere. She couldn't stop her gaze from going directly to his rather obscenely covered groin area, which wasn't all that covered to be honest. The only thing that was keeping her from totally retching was a metal codpiece held in place with leather, but his skinny butt still flapped in the wind thanks to the thong-like contraption he wore.

Wrinkling her nose, she grimaced, sharing a glance with Soul.

"Well, that's one of the most fashion-blind kishins we've hunted down."

Soul snorted, curling his lips to show some teeth. "Yeah. Totally not cool."

She didn't even need to use her soul perception to sense the evil floating off this particular kishin egg, but did so anyways to follow her standard procedure.

Of course since he had been registered on the mission board, it wasn't necessary for her to verify the state of her soul since it had been plainly stated on the listing. He was pure evil, fast on track to becoming a true kishin, but was still early enough in the process to be taken out by a level one meister and weapon pair like Soul and Maka.

"Well, he's definitely the one were looking for. His soul is tainted."

Soul licked his lips, already ready to eat the kishin soul. "Yep." He lowered his head and gave the monster a toothy grin before addressing him. "I'm gonna eat your soul."

The creature had already noticed them, and was releasing the woman that he had pinned previous to their interruption. She ran off in hysterics, and Maka used the opportunity to properly sentence the thing, which she tended to do before killing them and taking their souls.

"Jack the Ripper!" She called down to him, and he fully turned to give her his undivided attention, long slimy tongue lolling out of his mouth as if he was considering her for eating potential. "You have become a kishin egg by eating the souls of humans! We are here to collect your soul!"

His eyes set on Maka and he entirely ignored Soul, which was a mistake.

The white haired demon-scythe transformed at a nod from his meister, and Maka reached out to grip Soul's smooth metal handle, twirling him around her hand and body to lay him solidly over her shoulder at the ready as the kishin egg approached at top speed. When he was within striking distance, she flipped Soul around to let the thing run gut first into the butt of his handle, winding it temporarily. It gave her a second to spin her weapon around so her weapon's red and black blade faced the next attack.

Together they beat off the knife attacks, knocking them aside with Soul's long curved blade and solid metal hilt. The metallic sound of knife against scythe beat a fast-paced percussion that Maka was hard-pressed to keep up with. But she had wielded Soul now for years, and she knew how to block every thrust. The thing was taller than her, and surprisingly speedy for its size and stature, but most kishin eggs were so she had expected that. She blocked the first smattering of attacks head on, flipping Soul tail over head as she used both ends of him. Once she got under the thing's guard, she gripped Soul tightly and spun her own body instead, shoving the blunt head of him back and into her opponent's knee before rotating him and flipping her scythe friend's blade around so it arched up and back to meet the knife thrusts coming from above.

Using her footing, she rotated herself back around, in time to block the hit coming from all ten knives in a two handed attack of their opponent's. Though the blades didn't touch her, the attack did pack a punch and knocked her back into the air. While falling, she flipped her legs over her head, hard, to do a one eighty and get her feet under her again. She landed correctly, feet planted hard into the ground and she hooked Soul's blade in the ground both for balance to prevent her from still falling backwards with the momentum and also to stop the skid. He kicked up some rocks and cobblestone from the street, but it was only the pavement that suffered any damage. Soul's steel was impervious to things that could break a normal weapon. In fact, it seemed nothing could blunt, bent, or break him.

She then used him as a hook to launch herself forwards, pulling him out as she went. Her next attack was rebuffed, and she acquired a shallow cut across her bicep as a trophy, another one to add to her collection she thought sourly.

"Watch out! Don't let him get you again Maka!" Soul scolded, his reflection snarling at her.

"Yeah, yeah I know. That was my bad." She grumbled back.

It hurt, but she didn't waste time worrying about it. Instead she shoved the butt of Soul's hilt into the ground to use him almost like a vaulting pole. She spun him around in her hands so his blade was poised correctly as she made an aerial attack and launched herself into the air over the enemy, flipping over him and slashing down at the apex of her arch. Soul's long scythe blade skidded off a metallic shoulder plate, but still left a deep gash that had the creature howling.

"Yeah! We got him!" Soul enthused, his reflection grinning broadly and showing all of his sharp teeth. Drawing first blood tended to get him hyped up.

"Not enough though." Maka grunted back, dodging under more sharp slices and countering with a firm stab of Soul's blunt hilt into the enemy's solar plexus. The monster coughed and was sent stumbling back from the force of the hit. Maka used the slight diversion to spin on her heel, bringing Soul around with her, and whipped him at full-force towards the kishin's head. The deadly arch would have ended in a decapitation or crushed skull, if he hadn't ducked at the last second.

The battle seemed to be going pretty well over all, Soul's and Maka's movements matching each other through familiarity. However, their souls were not perfectly in sync. So, eventually something had to give.

A few minutes in, the enemy countered one of their attacks and managed to catch Soul's blade between two knife-fingers – twisting him through the air – and Maka was unable to prevent him from being wrenched out of her hands. He fell, sliding and skittering across the ground with a metallic screech. The sound of metal against ground was nothing though, compared to his exceptionally loud cussing and the scream of, "MAKA!"

For a brief second, Maka stared at the disgusting creature in front of her and then risked a quick glance at Soul, who was still shouting loudly from his spot on the ground. Now he was yelling at her to get her butt over there and pick him up.

She had messed up again.

Grumbling under her breath, she evaded the fresh attacks – sustaining a few cuts without Soul to guard with – and managed to get to her downed weapon. She dove to the ground in a skid that left a few road burns along her knees and an elbow, but managed to scoop him up in her hands. At Soul's warning shout, she instantly flipped onto her back and held him up to counter the attack that was coming down on top of her.

Despite being a great team, there were inevitable flubs-ups like this thanks to Maka's handicaps, and it just ticked her off to no end. Angry now at her own mistake, she attacked with more aggression, driving the thing back, and then took it down with a final swing that sliced it in half cleanly.

Soul partially reemerged from the blade while Maka still held him, and he grabbed the red glowing soul, opening his mouth wide and placing it onto his tongue by the little wiggly tail. Maka looked on, finding it oddly fascinating to watch as he curled his tongue and drew the soul back into his mouth with a slurp. He chewed and swallowed the thing, before letting out a little pleased, _'whoooo'_ sound as air whistled out between his lips in a satisfied sigh.

It hadn't used to be interesting enough to make her want to watch, but lately she had found it oddly fascinating. Recently she couldn't seem to stop herself from observing him consume the souls they collected. It made her feel odd, in a way she wasn't entirely sure she liked – kind of hot and prickly – as he manipulated his mouth in such interesting ways to suck in the relatively large glowing ball. Her unexplained reaction was a big part of what intrigued her so much.

He caught her looking and raised a brow, giving her a sour expression. He transformed fully, landing in a crouch on the ground which he lazily stood up from, seeming to have decided to ignore her.

He walked off with his hands stacked behind his neck, calling back, "Let's find a mirror and report. I'm booked."

As she called back to him with an affirmative, she suddenly realized how tired and achy she was. Wincing at the sharp stings of her cuts, she hustled after him. At the first mirrored surface they came across, Maka reported back to Lord Death on their success, getting a congratulation on a job well done in response.

Neither of them were overly enthused when Maka's dad also happened to be in the Death Room with Lord Death. He took the opportunity to get on Soul's case, yet again.

"Hey, listen up you little octopus head, I will fucking end you if you hit on my daughter while you two are all alone out on missions."

It seemed whenever he found saw them alone together he felt the need to say something to that effect.

Before Maka could counter the statement with 'Soul isn't _you_ , so I wouldn't worry about it,' – in reference to his womanizer ways – Soul said, "Are you kidding? You see how cool I am? Do you think I'd be caught dead with a flat chested chick like that?" And pointed at Maka.

She saw red and wished desperately for a book to chop him with, but without one she settled with her hand, which wasn't nearly as effective and ended up hurting her more than him. "Ow! You bastard! How many times do I have to tell you to stop saying shit about my bust size?!"

Her rage was nothing compared to her father's though as he screamed like a woman and practically stuck his head through the mirror at them, smooshing his nose and face around in very disconcerting ways as he mashed it to the glass.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! Take it back! Maka's a beautiful young woman! Have you even bothered to grope her? Go on, give her a squeeze! Are you even a man?!"

Soul's face was amusing to watch, his head tucking back while his eyebrows raised and eyes closed as if being blasted by a sharp wind. But Maka was much too angry to appreciate the humorous sight.

Her fury turned on her father and she yelled at him this time. "Do you know what you're saying you old pervert?!"

Thankfully Lord Death put an end to that with an infamous CHOP, and her father retreated into the background to nurse his dented cranium.

They managed to complete the report without any more mishaps.

In short order, they hustled back home. It didn't take too long; thankfully this kishin egg hadn't been too far from Death City. Using Soul's bike they zipped along the late night empty roads, and soon they were busting through the door to their apartment. Somehow, when she wasn't looking, Soul managed to snag the shower first, which resulted in a very displeased Maka.

Finally, an hour later, Maka was able to utilize the shower, soaking her sore muscles under the hot water. As she relaxed under the water spray and washed all the grime of the battle off her body, she thought back to the fight - which inevitably led to her contemplating her failures as a meister.

Once again she had made things way more difficult than they had to be. If she could just get over her issues, then she and Soul could take these missions so much easier.

At the very least she was the only one that ended up paying for it, in terms of injuries. None of these missions were at a high enough level for the enemies to be powerful enough to pose a danger to Soul in his weapon form. But her? She was still just flesh and blood, and as the pink water swirling around her ankles affirmed, she was all too easily cut.

They made a good team, despite her shortcomings, but when they were working together she consciously held her soul back, closed off and protected, so that there was as little actual soul contact between them as possible. Even Soul didn't realize she was doing it, since she had been doing it from the very get go. He never knew the difference.

Maka knew where it came from well enough. It was all her problem, and all her fault.

Plainly put, growing up with her cheating father had given her some serious trust issues, commitment issues, and intimacy issues, and touching soul-to-soul was way too much for Maka to handle.

With her shielded soul, they could sort of feel each other, but not really. They could sense each other on either side of the barrier that Maka put up in the same way you could see a person on the other side of glass, or hear them all muffled, but couldn't feel them or their body heat. That was the sort of shield Maka put up between her soul and his, and had done so from the beginning.

It complicated matters and made fighting together more difficult though, and she hated herself for it. They could see and hear each other, but couldn't feel their souls rubbing together; so they had to match wavelengths purely on sight and sound, and not feel, which was the most integral part of it. But Maka simply couldn't bear the thought of it.

If two bare souls touched…it was about as intimate as hugging each other naked. She honestly couldn't imagine how the others did it without any kind of…feelings. In her opinion, it was like two people touching each other skin to skin, only way more intimate even than that, and somehow everyone else did it without feeling weird about it.

She supposed it could be similar to two really close friends, or maybe sisters or something, sharing body heat skin to skin for warmth. But nevertheless, whether it was friendly, familial, or romantic, the issue was still that it was intimate one way or another.

She barely talked to her father, never even saw her mother anymore, and didn't tell anyone how she truly felt about anything…except maybe Soul. Growing up watching her dad cheat on her mom over and over and over, and then lie about it every single time - it seriously dented her ability to trust anyone. She had seen the aftermath of constant betrayal. She had heard her mom cry by herself in her bedroom at night, seen the hollow, haunted look in her eyes the mornings after, and eventually watched as she gave up on everything and everybody she loved to disappear.

Intimacy required a very special sort of trust…and she just couldn't bring herself to trust anyone that way enough to have such soul-deep intimacy.

Plus, if you were going to be intimate on this level, it also required commitment … which also required trust. If you didn't trust your partner to remain committed, how were you supposed to commit to them?

….Which led right back to the fact that soul resonance was INTIMATE, and as much as she trusted Soul, she just couldn't bring herself to do it with him. It was asking too much.

What a joke.

Her feelings and thoughts on the matter were so convoluted and messy that they didn't even entirely make sense to her.

In hindsight, perhaps she never should have attempted to become a meister in the first place. But she was driven by the desire to be just like her mother, who was one of the strongest meisters out there. Especially now, after she disappeared so thoroughly from Maka's life except for a postcard every now and then, she felt that being a meister just like her mother was the only thread tying them together.

But that didn't mean she was well-suited for it, at least not emotionally.

She groaned, bumping her forehead on the tile, and berated herself for her weakness.

It had always been like this, since the very beginning.

 ***Flashback***

"Alright class, today we're going to be testing you guys for soul matches. As partners you have to have compatible souls or you won't be able to work together." Professor Sid lectured. He walked around the classroom and set everyone up so that each pair was facing each other, with some space in between all the pairs to help them keep their concentration and not get distracted by another couple.

As he walked around the room, moving people around, he continued the lecture. "If your souls aren't compatible you'll have to undergo specialized training to try and get your wavelengths in sync. If that fails, you'll just have to switch partners."

Maka grimaced, not liking the sound of that.

Once everyone was in place, Sid said, "All right, remember what we've been studying up till now. Remember the technics I taught you on how to try to feel your partner's soul wavelength. I hope everyone is up to date on the reading assignments, they'll be essential for your success."

Luckily Maka had indeed read all the material - and way more - but unluckily it had only served to make her exceedingly anxious about this exercise. She didn't like the sound of soul-to-soul contact, not at this level. Just the barely-there sensation of her partner's soul humming against her own as she wielded him was uncomfortable.

She could already tell this was going to be difficult.

But dutifully she gave it her all, and as Sid guided everyone through the exercise, she followed his instructions, using all the tips and tricks to make it easier. Of course it was easy enough for her anyways since she could actually see souls, but trying to feel one and connect to it was a bit different.

They sat facing each other and held hands, as odd as that was, and then closed their eyes, trying to feel the thrum of the other's soul. It was a little touch and go for a moment, but Maka was able to find Soul relatively quickly, and he sensed her as she approached, meeting her in the middle. Instantly, the second their souls touched together for the first time, Maka freaked, the sensation way, way, way too intense and intimate for her. The core of her…was touching the core of him, and it felt…weird. Beyond weird.

It was too much.

That was the first time she had come up with the comparison of touching each other skin to skin, because it was the first thing that popped into her head at feeling it for the first time.

She freaked, and her soul went nutso, blasting Soul off her with a static pop that had him recoiling and shaking himself like a wet dog, a few shocked sounds escaping him.

"Dude! Your soul is all over the place! What the hell, Maka?"

"Sorry! Sorry! It just…it feels so weird! I freaked out." She quickly apologized.

He took one look at her wild-eyed expression and his eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, you look pretty freaked. How about you chill for a minute before we try it again, okay?"

She nodded, taking a deep fortifying breath. It seemed she wasn't the only one to be freaking out either. There were shouts, squeals, the sound of chairs tipping over, and loud conversation popping up all over the room.

Not much scared her. Maka had nerves of steel. Monsters, ghosts, scary stories, scary movies, nothing frightened her. But this…this terrified her. And the fact she was so freaked, made her even more upset. It made her feel like a failure, which didn't help her outlook on this exercise at all.

She was so nervous and upset in fact, that she chickened out entirely and started thinking about how to cheat. Which was also so unlike her that she felt a little self-loathing sneak into her heart. She hated the fact that the only way she could do this was to try and cheat, but at the same time, she simply couldn't make herself try it again in the conventional method. So she set to work building herself a shield, one that would protect her soul from his, while still hopefully letting her sense him at least a little.

As soon as she felt she was ready, she nodded and he took her hands in his again.

She reached out for him again and he met her even quicker this time, ready for it. She instantly knew her barrier was too thick, because she couldn't even sense enough of him to know if their wavelengths were compatible. So, she carefully peeled it back, layer by layer like an onion, until it was just thick enough to buffer his soul, muffling the feeling of his wavelength so that that it didn't overwhelm her. Really, she couldn't FEEL it, so much as she could sense it. It wasn't rubbing up against her in that crazy intimate way it had been, but now the barrier was thin enough that she could see and sense his wavelength. Comparing it to her own, it seemed they would be perfectly compatible, though of course with any partnership there was room for improvement.

Maka had been worried that he would be able to tell she had shielded herself, but afterwards all Soul said was, "Your soul was easier to handle that time. Barely even felt it actually."

He accepted her explanation that she simply hadn't freaked out this time.

From the very start, Maka had begun to feel guilt weighing her down. He had unquestioningly adapted to the new sensing technique without true touch, and Maka knew she was making things way more difficult than they should be. If she hadn't cheated, they could have matched up so much faster, instead of mamby-pambying around trying to sync their souls' wavelengths almost with trial and error.

 ***End of flashback***

They had eventually gotten the hang of her shield-muffling ways, and matched each other through sheer perseverance and lots of practice, which shouldn't have been necessary at all. But with her barrier, the only way they could match at all was to just try over and over, straining to sense each other through the glass, which she could see through, and he could hear through. He matched her soul wavelength based on the sound of it, which was a mercy for Maka, because without his special auditory ability she would have been screwed. As for her, she could match him based on sight, since she could see his soul. And thus, they were able to get past the whole 'feeling each other's soul' thing.

But then the issue of soul resonance had come up, and that was a whole other matter altogether.

Just to wield him she needed to sync her soul to his, at least to a certain extent. But soul resonance required a pair to perfectly match each other's soul wavelength until they were flawlessly tuned to each other. Then once in perfect synchronization, the two souls would essentially join together, combining to create a more powerful soul wavelength greater than either of the souls individually could make.

In Maka's opinion, just touching soul-to-soul had been like a naked hug. So, her perception of soul resonance was a hundred times worse on the scale of intimacy. It was two souls fusing, mating, merging, joining … all those words that made her cringe at the thought of. To Maka, soul resonance was the equivalent of sex, the ultimate intimate act in her book that was to be avoided above all others.

Of course they had to try in class to achieve resonance, but they never were quite able to master it through her shield. They could get close to matching their wavelengths perfectly together through sight and sound, but as they drew closer together they would butt up against her glass wall and would be kept separate, never able to fuse together the way they should. And it was a terrifying process for Maka, because the resonance of their souls would vibrate more and more intensely, until she could feel his wavelength vibrating her shield, and hers would match, making it quake under the pressure. The practice seriously worried her and she knew if they pushed it too hard her shield would shatter.

She was terrified it would break and put their souls into direct contact with each other, which was a prospect she didn't even want to consider. At this point, she had psyched herself out so much about it that the mere thought made her get cold sweats. And the fact that she could be such a coward made her so mad she wanted to beat herself over the head for it.

They could still manage to increase their power with an exceptionally weak semi-resonance, but they used it sparingly and only in emergency situations. Soul pushed her to try it more often, not understanding why it freaked her out so much, but she held firm. She was convinced there had to be a way she could eventually construct a shield that would allow them to resonate together without having to actually touch souls. She just needed to do more research.

Sighing, she finally turned off the water and toweled her body dry, tired and still aching, and now in a foul mood caused by her self-bashing and irritation at her shortcomings. She went to bed, flopping down face first, and passed out.

* * *

Author's Note:

Welcome to my newest story!

Before we continue, here are a few notes. Yes, I am skimming a little. Don't worry, there will be scenes that go into more detail, but I have a lot of ground to cover and I want to include certain scenes, even if they're brief. I will of course also be writing my own scenes, and those will be a lot more involved, but stuff like what was in this and the next chapter is mostly for setting the scene. ;)

Also, as I'm sure you noticed, this story is largely about Maka's issues, so off and on she's going to be indecisive and a bit of a scaredy-cat, but I promise it will get better. Just be patient, I know it can be a little annoying. The strong Maka we all know and love is still in there, just drowning in some baggage at the moment.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day wasn't too much better for Maka.

Having finally acquiring ninety-nine souls, they now had to get the soul of a witch. Which meant they had to fight a witch. And win.

That was easier said than done. Witches were notoriously hard to kill, but Soul and Maka were relatively confident that they could accomplish said task successfully. Actually finding a witch turned out to be the easy part. Following the rumors of a witch named Blaire, they found themselves standing in front of a … house.

Maka blinked, starting up at the oddity glaring back at her. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of a house that was orange and in the shape of a pumpkin. Wasn't that against some sort of homeowner's association regulation?

"Well…I guess this is the place. It looks weird enough to house a witch."

"Looks tasty." Soul said, grinning, a little drool appearing at the corner of his lips.

"Alright, well, we need a plan. How do you want to do this?" Maka

"Dunno, but I vote for brute force." Was Soul's response, accompanied with a shark grin.

"Soul! That's your answer to everything and one of these days it's gonna get us killed!" Maka protested, but was instantly blown off by Soul, who decided to take a blatantly obvious approach to the situation.

Maka face-palmed as he yelled some sort of battle cry and barreled right through the window.

With a groan and a mutter of, "I'm going to kill him," she followed, crawling in through the broken window after, being sure not to cut herself on any shards of glass. She was so focused on getting through the window without being sliced and diced, that she wasn't entirely sure how the scene in front of her came to be. It seemed Soul had plowed through the window, only to end up falling into a large bubble bath … which just so happened to contain a totally naked and soapy witch.

Well, she wasn't _completely_ naked. She was still wearing her large witchy hat.

Somehow that didn't make Maka feel any better about the situation.

Contrary to how one would normally expect a nude woman to respond at having a member of the opposite sex fall into the tub with her, the witch just seemed mildly amused. Meanwhile, Soul had sprouted a nosebleed and was practically comatose, draped over the side of the tub.

Maka felt a burst of rage kindle within her in a split second. Before she knew what she was doing, she had launched herself at her white-haired partner and propelled him out of the tub with a flying kick. She didn't quite know why the sight of him together with a naked lady had sparked such an intense reaction from her, but whatever the case she felt like she was about to blow a gasket, and proceeded to scold him firmly.

"Stop fooling around Soul! She's a witch…a _**witch**_! You can't be getting all stupid and hormonal right now!"

He glared at her, whilst stuffing tissue up his nose, which in her opinion lessened the weight of the evil look significantly.

"Come on Maka, a guy like me getting freaked over seeing a naked lady? Never. Cool guys see naked ladies all the time so it's no big deal."

Despite knowing good and well that was a bunch of bull – or at least she assumed it was bullshit since she had never come across any evidence to suggest he'd gone on a single date – his boasting about not being bothered by naked ladies bugged her to no end. Growling, she glared at him and just barely restrained herself from Maka-Chopping him, only because he had to turn into a weapon and get fighting.

All this time Blaire watched, and then got out of the tub, which distracted Soul once again as she was exposed in all her naked soapy glory. Even Maka was distracted, glaring at the other woman's boobs, which were obnoxiously bigger than her own modest bust.

"Soul…can you just transform into a scythe already…" She gritted out.

"Working on it…" The response came back, sounding choked off.

Grinding her teeth, she held her hand out silently for Soul's, and she had the brief feel of his warm hand in hers before it transformed to cold steel. As always, she solemnly told her opponent up front that they were going to take her soul, in this case for the crime of being a witch. She was absolutely ignored this time however, as the witch seemed much too interested in Soul's transformation to care about little old her.

"Oh! That cute boy transforms into such a beautiful scythe. Can I have him?"

That question sent her already dangerous temper into the red zone, and she felt herself squeeze him possessively in her hands as she snarled, "No you can't. Soul is MINE!"

Unaware of just how her words sounded, or how they affected said weapon, she proceeded to attack the purple haired bitch, not caring that she was naked at all. This Blaire character also didn't seem to care that she was naked, and dodged and avoided all their attacks, her boobs flapping and bouncing all over the place as she did, which threw Soul off his game obviously. Maka could faintly feel his soul getting all sorts of wonky through her barrier.

That only irritated Maka more, which threw her wavelengths off, and they easily slid out of sync with each other, which made it stupidly easy for the witch to blow them to smithereens with a pumpkin canon of all humiliating things.

They got blasted through the wall of her house, and promptly made a hasty retreat for a few moments to catch their breath. Upon their return, they didn't meet much better results, and had to retreat once again, nursing even sorer bruises. However, the two of them were nothing if not persistent, and so they returned once again.

After a few failed attempts, they finally managed to hold their own, duking it out in the streets of Death City, having traveled and been chased there by the equally persistent witch – who was now thankfully fully clothed at least. She seemed determined to have Soul, and constantly sent him flirty smiles, pushed her boobs out in his direction, and said things such as, "What are you doing with such an undeveloped girl-child, when you could have a woman like me?"

The constant boob jabs and pointing out her lack of curves made Maka both angry and also just a bit hurt. She was sick and tired of people picking on her lack of "feminine charms." Sure, she was no Tsubaki, and maybe she did have boobs that were small when compared to this milk cow, but she was still a girl goddammit. It infuriated her that this woman was trying to take Soul away from her, solely based on physical appearance. It drove her absolutely around the bin, and part of that was her fear of what Soul would do.

She didn't have high expectations of men and tended to believe that they would cheat at the first given opportunity, so she half-expected Soul to defect as the sexy witch shamelessly flaunted all her assets. Which was why she wasn't entirely unsurprised when he seemed to do just that.

It came after he had refused to respond to her for several minutes. They were thrown on top of a nearby roof from another of those pumpkin blasts and slid dangerously fast across the shingles. It was only Maka's quick thinking and instinct to flip Soul around so that his blade dug into the roof and stopped their fall that saved them from careening off the roof entirely. Even so, she found herself toppling over the edge, and clung to his handle to keep herself from falling. It was at that moment that Soul transformed back into a human, his hilt turning into his hand in hers. She expected him to pull her up, but instead he mumbled, "Maka…shut up." And then he dropped her.

Her stomach dropped first, from dread and shock, and though she landed in a soft pile of garbage she felt like she had crashed to the hard ground and had been crushed upon impact.

He leapt off the roof they had slid across and walked to the purple menace's side as she struggled out of the garbage bags to stand across from them. Maka could only stare in abject despair and horror, too dumbfounded at first to do or say anything.

Despite half-way expecting it, it still numbed her with shock when he said those dreaded words, "I wanna be Blaire's weapon!" with little hearts in his eyes and a cheesy grin.

If she had all her mental faculties and Blaire wasn't so arrogant, both women would have easily seen through the terrible acting, but as it was, both were too caught up in themselves to see it, and both took the bait: hook, line, and sinker.

"Soul?!" Maka gasped, watching as he seemingly chose that damn busty witch over her, her chest squeezing in a wholly unpleasant way as she watched him stand next to the witch with a sickening grin on his face.

"Why?" She whispered, feeling the threatening prickle of tears accost her eyes. This was not the time to cry, it would only result in her getting pumpkin bombed to the next century.

This hurt, way more than she ever would have predicted. She had thought she had guarded herself against this sort of pain, especially after having such a criminally cheating father, but it still hit her like a ton of bricks, stealing her breath and making her chest compress with pain. It was crippling and nearly sent her to her knees, causing her to double over as she shouted at him.

"Why are guys like this?! Why do men always cheat and never think about anyone else but themselves?! Why are all your actions ruled by your dicks?!" She screamed, her voice cracking in anger and pain and betrayal as she lost the battle on a lone tear.

Soul just smiled back at her, and then that grin widened and changed, as he said, "Wouldn't know. Cool guys never cheat."

It was at that moment that her wild eyes saw his arm had transformed into a blade around the witch, and he yelled, "Maka!"

Realization shot through her like lightning, preparing every muscle for the next move as adrenaline flooded her.

She instantly reached for his outstretched hand, the pain bubble in her chest popping like a balloon, and leaving behind a relief so great that - had there been no threat of being molested by orange balls of fury - she would have probably collapsed to her knees and wept. He transformed, his outstretched hand extending into his long silver handle, and she grabbed the tail end, one foot shifting to give her the correct stance as she yanked hard to pull his blade through the body of the witch.

Naturally, given their luck, it turned out that Blair was actually just a cat with magical powers, which meant that they had failed, and would have to turn in all the souls they had collected so far. Although, how they were supposed to do that when Soul had swallowed them, Maka had no idea. Plus, now they had to deal with Blaire herself, since Soul had only consumed one of her nine souls. She didn't attack them, which was a shock, but Maka had the suspicion they hadn't seen the last of her.

Miserable, the two of them drove back to their apartment on his orange bike, yelling at each other and shouting to the sky at the injustice of it all, hating the whole world at the moment.

Neither of them slept especially well, for good reason.

For Maka, she was kept awake by a plethora of stuff swirling around in her mind and refusing to settle down so she could sleep. She was understandably upset and beyond frustrated that they had so royally messed up their task, and would now have to start back at square one. They had only been one step away from making Soul a Death Scythe…a task that had been far from easy given their special circumstances. And now they would have to do it all over again.

But that was only one chunk of the mess in her head. The other part was her overthinking and overanalyzing the emotions she had been plagued by during their fight with Blaire: the jealousy, the rage at seeing Soul going gaga over Blaire and her big tits, the hurt she had been crushed under when he had pretended to leave her for the hussy…it all made her head ache.

Soul was also kept up, and for much of the same reasons. He was also beating himself up for being so uncool as to fuck up getting a witch's soul. He knew that him becoming a Death Scythe was important to his meister, and was positive that she was devastated by this set-back, which made him feel like absolute shit. Of course, it pissed him off to no end as well, especially now that they would have to regather all those souls.

Of course he was also kept awake simply because he was sore and tired. After they had gotten home, they'd reported back to Lord Death, who had promptly removed the souls from within Soul. It hadn't been a pleasant process. The gut cramps had been comparable to the worst food poisoning, and he would know, having not made the wisest choices when it came to food.

But also, as with Maka, he was kept awake by the feelings that had occurred during the fight. Normally, being a cool guy meant that he avoided displaying certain emotions, particularly not the mushy or sentimental kind. Still, it did not mean that he didn't feel them. When he had pretended to be Blaire's for a short moment, he had been torn apart by the utter devastation on Maka's face as she screamed and cried at him for cheating on her. It had struck something within him, something he wasn't quite sure he wanted to analyze yet.

Mostly, he just let emotions happen and didn't really bother to question them too much, but sometimes they required some thought. Thinking about such things though didn't really seem conducive to a good night's sleep though, so at some point he had to turn off his brain.

Both teens resolved to just shove it all under the rug.

So, the next morning when Maka woke up, she resolved herself to have as normal a day as possible and not dwell on last night's failure. She got up, made breakfast, and hummed…all normal morning activities. Nothing seemed amiss, everything was perfectly fine, and she refused to think about the previous day and how they would now have to take remedial lessons and capture all those souls again. Maka valiantly attempted to maintain a positive outlook, and just focused on flipping the eggs without breaking their yolks.

She was making an extra special breakfast, complete with eggs, bacon, toast, and fruit to try and make it up to Soul, since she knew he would probably wake in an extra foul mood today.

They had found out first hand last night how souls were extracted from a weapon, and the process had seemed like pumping someone's stomach, like if they had been poisoned or something, only much worse. It hadn't been pleasant for Soul in the least, and he had been left with the stomach ache of the century and one of the worst moods she had ever seen. So, she wanted to do something special to try and cheer him up, despite the fact that she was also bummed about it all.

She refused to think negative thoughts though, and did her best to maintain a positive outlook. Breakfast was done with style, and Maka somewhat cheerfully made her way to Soul's bedroom door, knocking briskly and then cracking it to poke her head in and tell him breakfast was on the table. And then she froze.

She stared…and then stared some more.

There were a few things that hit her eyeballs right away, Blair the witch – a NAKED Blaire the Witch – being the first one. Well, except she still had on her witch hat of course.

The naked thing was bad enough, but it was the fact that she was in their apartment, on Soul's bed…and ON SOUL himself, that really put her in a foul mood. She absorbed the information, and then took a few moments to reabsorb it since she had a hard time believing it the first time around.

Nope, she was still there, still under the covers – partially – and still sitting right on Soul's crotch area, in a highly suggestive manner. Her naked boobs were pushed up close to his face and the innocent look on her face didn't look innocent at all.

Soul looked about ready to have an embolism, his nose bleeding copiously and his eyes bugging out of his head as he halted, staying put. His arms even froze in place from where they had been waving around manically and left him looking rather strange as they hung suspended in the air. Undoubtedly he knew she was about to have a fit, and the anticipation had frozen him solid.

"Wh-wh-what is going on here?!" She finally managed to sputter, gaining volume as the sentence picked up steam.

"Um…don't have a clue honestly." Soul said, his voice surprisingly steady despite his out-of-wits expression.

"I'm seducing Soul. Nya." Blaire supplied, winking cutely and bringing a hand up to the side of her face in a cat pose.

Maka clenched her fists. " _ **Oh?!**_ And did you have anything to do with this Soul?!"

"Nope. Like I said, don't have a clue. I just woke up and she was…there." His face had smoothed out some and he refused to look at the naked witch on him, only looking at Maka. His hands remained up in the air in a pose of surrender as well as avoidance.

That helped some, but she could still feel the unpleasant squeezing in her chest, anger covering the pain quite nicely. That anger was only growing by the second, and after a moment of standing there, shaking in fury, she lunged forward, planting one foot next to the bed and swinging the other up and around in a fierce Maka Kick, round housing the cat off him.

She mewed and flew out the window, which shattered of course. Still trembling slightly, Maka walked over to the window. Soul still stayed perfectly motionless in the bed as she peered down at the street below, to see that the witch had run off. She closed the drapes over the broken window, and then turned to face Soul. He flinched and a shiver visibly ran up him as she set her undoubtedly furious eyes on his form.

"Uh…look Maka…I…"

"Save it!" She growled and with a heave she had her hands under the mattress and had lifted the side nearest her, tossing Soul out of bed roughly. As she heard him hit the ground with a thud and his "oof" that coincided with it, she dropped the mattress with a bang back onto the bed springs.

She walked around to stand over his form, which was tangled up in the sheets, as he flopped around on the floor. He froze again as she rounded the corner of his bed and looked up at her, his messy white hair flopping into his wide red eyes.

She stood there, thinking about how she wanted to Maka Chop his head just for good measure, but then eventually turned and stiffly walked out the door, slamming it behind her. Once she had left the room, a wave of hurt ran through her and she slumped against the closed door for a brief second, frowning and closing her eyes tightly to keep in the sharp tears. Why had it hurt so much to see that? Why had it felt like a betrayal?

Shaking her head, she shoved the thoughts back and brushed herself proverbially off, letting the irritation be a balm to cover up all that stuff.

Her mood didn't improve much through the day, especially when they received their first remedial lesson and were told they would be expelled if they failed. The fact that they would be investigating their previous teacher, who had supposedly died but might now be risen from the grave in a zombie form, was just icing on the nasty cake that was this particular day.

Fighting zombie Sid didn't cheer her up any either, especially not when they were fighting alongside Black Star, who was a bit of a pain in the ass to be honest. Maka liked Black Star well enough, and he was fun to hang out with, in moderation. But when fighting his and her style tended to not mesh well, and they kept getting in each other's way.

Add into that, the fact that they were fighting a ZOMBIE, and not just any zombie, but someone they actually knew, and Maka found herself in a relatively unwholesome mood.

Thankfully they were able to defeat him, but only after managing to tie Maka and Soul up with him in Black Star's trap, a fact that they protested loudly. It took some doing to get the two of them out of the trap while leaving Sid entangled, and it was a process which nearly choked Maka and almost ripped Soul's arm off.

This rotten day and equally exasperating assignment wasn't over yet though, because then they had to question Sid and try to get him to tell them who had turned him into a zombie in the first place.

"Tell us who made you!" Maka said, rather loudly since this was not the first time she asked the question.

As before, she got nothing out of the zombified teacher. He just sat there, staring at them with disturbingly dead eyes.

Soul scowled, his mouth opening in a grimace as he bared his shark-like teeth at the guy in frustration. He leaned in close, snarling right in Sid's face and growled, "Tell us and we won't hurt you…"

Still nothing. It wasn't exactly surprising since - alongside teaching - the guy had been a special-ops enforcer, like an assassin or something before dying.

They kept at it though, but continued getting nowhere. At least, not until Black Star shoved Tsubaki forward and then grabbed her skirt and lifted it up, inch by inch. That got Sid's attention and his eyes instantly zoomed in on Tsubaki's legs.

In a rather pleasant voice Black Star asked, "Whatcha think? Tell us who made you a zombie."

The blue-skinned dead man suddenly seemed quite alive, and words spilled from his mouth as he told them what they wanted to know.

Next they needed to know where this Dr. Franken Stein was, who Sid had told them was responsible for bringing him back. Tsubaki had already escaped for this round of questioning, and so Black Star rounded on Maka next, flipping up her skirt for answers.

Maka screeched, Soul sprung a nosebleed for some reason and stared a little too hard at her white panties, and Maka Chops were thrown indiscriminately, until all males in the room were laying on the floor in puddles of blood.

"Sorry…"

"…sorry my queen…"

"…so sorry. You can find Stein in his lab…"

She got apologies and information as she brandished her book, wiping blood spatters off her cheek and glaring down at them.

They all trouped off to go find Stein, led by a demure zombie who cringed away from Maka's brandished book. Once gathered outside the strange building, Maka stomped forwards and banged on the door, yelling, "Stein! We know you're in there!"

A strange rattling sound started up and then slowly grew louder. Suddenly the doors were flung open, to show a man careening towards them backwards on a rolling office chair. He hit the door threshold and the slight bump caused his wheels to catch and send him toppling over backwards, where he lay and pushed his glasses up with one finger.

Everyone there stared at him with shock, nonplussed by the dramatic and yet anticlimactic entry. Words were quickly exchanged as they explained their purpose for being there, and he proceeded to challenge them to battle.

Fighting Stein certainly didn't improve Maka's outlook on the day, especially not when she got a peep at his massive soul, which simply terrified the wits out of her. If it hadn't been for Soul's little pep talk, she would have frozen up and been unable to fight at all. That was of course unacceptable, especially since he had just bombasted Black star with an attack that had put the nearly invincible blue-haired guy out of commission.

Things only got worse from there. It took very little time before she and Soul seemingly lost the battle, when Soul was tossed from her hands to clatter a ways away, leaving her shaking and terrified on the ground at Stein's feet. After defeating Black Star so soundly and apparently killing him, she didn't have any doubts that this psycho as about to kill her too. She scrambled back on her butt, trying to get to Soul, but she was stalled by Stein grabbing her easily, bending at the waist and pulling her up to her knees and then feet by her pigtail, getting a cry out of her as the pain shot through her head.

And then she froze in horror as he hunched over her and pulled her shirt up a bit, saying maliciously, "What pretty smooth skin. Where shall we make the first incision? Here perhaps?"

He used a surgical blue pen to mark a dotted line across her abdomen, as if marking her up for surgery. Maka choked, beyond horrified now and into the realm of pure panic. She thought for sure she was about to feel the sharp bite of a lancet cutting into her skin, and she squeezed her eyes closed, bracing herself. However, she had not braced herself for the harsh impact that came from the side, bulldozing her and ripping her from Stein's grip, forcing a gasp out of her chest as she hit the ground hard.

And then she froze in surprise as another body came down on top of hers. Her head snapped to the side to see Soul had landed on all fours over her, his hands on either side of her body protectively as he snarled over his shoulder at the good doctor. "I won't let you lay a single fucking hand on my meister!"

Maka gasped once again, somehow stunned by the words that spilled from his lips, her chest pulsing with something strange.

Stein just raised a brow in response to the forceful order from the scythe and walked over the short few steps it took for him to be standing over them, looming over their forms. Maka flinched, curling into a ball, as much as Soul's hands bracketing her would allow. She was truly terrified of this man, more so than any other she had ever met before. The horrifying thoughts of being strapped down to a table while being dissected without anesthesia started running through her head.

The shiver of fear did not go unnoticed by her partner crouching protectively over her, and he pressed closer to her in response. His upper body lowered until he blocked even more of her from the evil scientist, his hips tucked in tight to her rump and his thighs shifted a bit, moving his leg closer to cover one of hers.

He continued to crane his neck, even more now that he was crouching so close to her, and he continued to bare his sharp teeth aggressively, hissing, "You'll have to get through me first you bastard!"

"…S-Soul…" Maka whispered, both amazed and a little perturbed that he was willing to put his own life on the line to save hers. She never wanted him to get hurt just because of her and her weaknesses.

Stain squatted next to them, and hummed, saying rather blandly, "Willing to give up your life for your meister? Very well, you pass." He patted Soul's messy white hair, not unkindly.

They both blinked up at him, confused. "Huh?"

Soon after that, it became clear that this whole thing had been one big exercise, that neither man was rogue and were in fact both in the service of Lord Death himself. It had just been a test. Maka was still mildly terrified by Stein though, since she had gotten a look at his soul, and also because he had seemed truly insane and majorly sadistic in a mad scientist sort of way when he had been "acting." She was finding it hard to believe that it was in fact all an act, especially the bit where he had been pretending like he was going to cut her.

So, understandably, Maka was horrified to discover that Stein had become their new teacher the next day.

At the ominous sound of wheels rolling up the hall, she had broken out into a cold sweat, thinking _oh please god no_ , and then as he crashed into the class, backwards over the threshold in his rolling chair, she groaned, silently screaming in her head. The rest of the class were all mute, and she could just feel a communal "WTF?" vibrating the air around her as everyone watched him open up his text book and begin to lecture from flat on his back on the floor as if everything about it was perfectly normal. If she hadn't had that terrifying experience with him last night, she would have found it hysterical.

She kept a close eye on him for the remainder of the lesson, and for the following days. Slowly she began to relax little by little, as his personality remained seemingly stable, perfectly sane, and hospitable. That streak of mad scientist was undoubtedly still inside of him somewhere, but at least he seemed trustworthy and like he had it under control. She would just have to make sure to stay on his good side.

To her surprise, he was actually a decent teacher. Over the course of a few days, things settled down and a normal routine was established, complete with him toppling into the class on his ridiculous chair and then dissecting something.

* * *

Author's Note:

Another bit of a quick summery chapter here, but hopefully everyone enjoyed it.

And a big thank you to my first reviewer! :D

You should know that the more reviews I get, the more I want to write and the faster I post. I am going to try and get each new chapter out on the weekends, though, come hell or high water. So keep your eyes peeled for the next installment. :D


	3. Chapter 3

After the past week of crazy - which was only topped off by Blaire apparently deciding to move in with them, at least part of the time - Maka was almost happy to get away and go to another country…even if it was on another remedial lesson.

Still, going to Italy was pretty cool, even Maka had to admit. And so, when they arrived, and were surrounded by all the plazas and cobblestone roads and gardens and quaint buildings in this little Italian village, Maka found herself enjoying the trip. Sure, the whole purpose was to kill some kishin egg named Rasputin that had been doing numerous and cruel things, but that didn't necessarily mean that they couldn't enjoy the scenery.

This particular perp didn't come out until the wee hours of the morning, so after checking into the overnight hotel they would spend the night in, they had some time to spare. Of course, getting up at such an insanely early time to go egg hunting meant they'd need to get to bed pretty dang early - especially Soul. He was a notorious grump when being woken up after not getting enough sleep. Scratch that, when it came to getting up early, he was bad in any circumstance, but getting enough sleep made him – marginally – easier to manage.

So, they'd have to get back to the hotel within a few hours, but they could spend that time sight-seeing.

"So Maka, what do ya wanna check out first?" Soul asked as he lazily walked along next to her, his hands stacked behind his head in his usual lazy stroll.

"Uh…I don't know." She shrugged. "Maybe we could just wander around until we see something interesting enough to check out?"

"Sure. Sounds good to me." He replied, grinning a little and breaking his patented bored look before looking around.

They walked amiably together down the cobblestone roads, window shopping and occasionally poking their heads into interesting looking shops that lined the way.

Things went pretty smoothly, up until they accidentally bumped into a few guys. They were at the edge of a group of punks who seemed busy doing something, probably up to no good based on their appearance and nasty attitude.

"Oi! Who do you think you are? Bumping into us like that! Do you know who we are?" One said, grabbing Soul's collar and lifting him into the air to get nose to nose with him. The guy was significantly taller than Soul, which wasn't overly surprising since Soul was on the shorter end of the spectrum, only a being a few inches taller than her. And that had only recently happened.

Soul's expression didn't change and he just sighed, letting his head flop backwards as he looked upside down back at her.

"Hey Maka, who are these guys?"

She shrugged, not worried about him in the least. He could definitely handle these punks. They were only human after all.

"I don't know. But I want to check out that gelato shop over there." She pointed, only having just noticed the sign, her mouth already watering at the prospect.

His eyes followed her finger, looking around the guy still holding him and spying the shop. "Oh yeah, that does look cool."

The thug was thoroughly pissed now at having been ignored, and he started shaking Soul, who flopped back and forth, staying relatively limp in the guy's grasp, as if he simply couldn't be bothered. Maka was pretty sure she even caught sight of him rolling his red eyes. Maka stepped around the group of dumbasses and started making her way down the street towards the gelato shop, calling back to Soul. "Hey, stop wasting time on those idiots, come on."

"Yeah, alright." He called back, and she glanced over her shoulder to see him easily free himself from the punk's grasp.

Not even using his weapon form, he dodged punches and kicks from multiple assailants and then planted a few stern hits of his own, occasionally using the blunt edge of his blade to really thwack someone. Within a few moments he had piled them up and was once again walking alongside her, his hands stuffed in his pockets and slouching along with his bored expression still unfazed.

Maka snorted, thinking that – yes – as her partner liked to brag about, Soul was pretty cool. Not that she would ever tell him that, his spiky white head would swell up way too big.

Feeling a little flutter in her chest at the admission of his "cool factor," she snorted again, almost tickled by the sensation. It made her smile for some reason, and then frown as she wondered where the hell it had come from.

Shaking her head, she focused her thoughts on the gelato.

Entering the small cold parlor, Maka stared in amazement, never having seen so many different colors of ice cream, or not quite ice cream in this case, and was nearly bowled over by the intoxicating sweet scent. It seemed there was a bar, right in front of the counter behind which were all the dizzying array of flavors, and she perched on a tall stool at the bar, deciding she would park herself right here and try each flavor that caught her fancy until she was satisfied.

They both handed over their respective cards, and opened up tabs, a foreign concept when it came to ice cream, but one Maka was certainly not opposed to taking advantage of. She started with a green smooth one, and Soul started with a scoop of something that looked like it may be strawberry.

She glanced over and saw that Soul had taken a rather shockingly large bite, and her tongue paused in mid-lick, her eyebrows raised as she watched him open his mouth, wider than seemed normal really for a human, and his second bite chomped down all the way to the middle of the cone he had chosen. He chewed a few seconds, and then swallowed, a lump seeming to visibly pass down his throat.

He winced a little, rubbing his head, and then he noticed her watching him, her tongue still frozen in place. He blinked, looking a little confused.

"What?" He asked, frowning.

She finally removed her now very cold tongue and licked her sticky lips, warming up her tongue in her mouth a moment before she responded.

"How did you just eat that cone so fast? You ate it in two bites!"

"Uh." He looked a little surprised, like he hadn't even realized it was abnormal. "I dunno. I guess it just seemed like the thing to do."

"Didn't it give you brain freeze?"

"A little, not bad though."

"Are you kidding?! How is that physically possible? And you swallowed it basically whole! That had to hurt!"

"No…" He gave her a weird look, like he wasn't sure why she was making such a big deal out of this.

Scowling, she stuck one finger in his mouth and hooked it in between two of his shark teeth before yanking his jaw open, peering into his mouth curiously. It looked normal enough, aside from his distinctly abnormal teeth. Of course he protested, his words slurred as her finger got in the way, but she ignored him temporarily, too inquisitive for her own good. His jaw muscles fought her and prevented her from opening his jaw to its full capacity.

It was her own fault when she ignored his warning that he was gonna bite her if she didn't quite it. She didn't really think he would, but sure enough, once his notoriously thin patience had worn out he closed his jaws on her finger, a sharp point coming down on her skin in a rather dangerous manner. She yelped, but couldn't remove said finger without risk of gouging a trench in her flesh.

"Ouch! Okay, okay, let go and I'll stop!" She squeaked, gently tugging on her finger and wiggling it experimentally, cringing when she felt his tongue with the tip of it.

Except now he seemed to be enjoying her predicament, and a rather dangerous grin curled his lips as his teeth stayed clamped down on her, noticing that she couldn't pull back.

"Ow! Soul that hurts! Stop!" She whined, not that it really hurt that bad, and she scowled, trying to wedge the short fingernails of her other hand in between his teeth to try and pry them loose. That didn't work, so she upgraded to her little flat spoon, poking at him and trying to lever his jaws open with the flimsy plastic.

"Look, I promise to never stick my fingers in your mouth again, now open up!" She squawked, resorting to poking at his face now to try and dissuade him from continuing to keep her finger prisoner.

He just snickered, the sound resonating in his teeth, which were still embedded in her finger, in an exceptionally weird way.

Finally he unclenched and she jerked her offended appendage back, inspecting her finger. It now possessed a set of teeth mark that had been pressed quite hard into her, but hadn't actually broken the skin, except for just a small spot where the tip of his tooth had punctured her a little.

"Geeze, what was that for…?" She pouted, frowning at her hand.

He snickered. "You're the one who started it."

"Hey! I was just trying to figure out what's up with your mouth."

"What's up with my mouth?" He repeated, ironically ordering another cone and nearly inhaling it like the first, only slowing just a little - maybe taking it down to four bites instead of two.

"Like that! How wide does your jaw open anyways?" She pointed, as he snapped up the last of it.

He raised an eyebrow at her and then shrugged. "Dunno. Wide I guess?"

"Come on, show me. How wide can you open your mouth?"

He rolled his eyes but indulged her, stretching his jaws wide. She felt like she was looking into the mouth of a shark and her own mouth dropped open as it seemed he must have unhinged his jaw like a snake or something, because that was impossible. It was pretty freaky in fact and she shivered, turning away and waving her hands to have him close his mouth again.

"Yikes!" She yelped. "Okay, okay, yep. You've got something crazy going on there."

He closed his jaws with a snap, before licking his lips and ordering another scoop.

He seemed to have a bit of a headache now, judging by his squinty eyed expression, so his next scoop wasn't eaten in bites at all, this time he licked at it like a normal person. Or at least that's what she thought at first.

She went back to her own scoop, drinking it since it had melted by now, and order a fresh one, tucking in and trying to ignore the slurping sounds coming from next to her. Now she almost wished he was inhaling his food like before, because he wasn't making nearly as much noise then. When he ordered a fresh scoop she gave him the side-eye, meaning to scowl at him and maybe scold him for being such a noisy eater, but her attention was yet again distracted by his abnormal ice cream behavior.

He had always been a relatively messy eater, but either he was exceptionally hungry, or she just hadn't ever seen him an ice cream cone before – which, when she thought about it, she wasn't sure she had – but whatever the case he was going at it with extra gusto. It had been a rather warm day, and they had walked a good ways, so that could explain it. But what wasn't explainable was the way he was scooping the ice cream out of the long cone with his tongue.

She watched, once again fascinated and a little grossed out as he stuck his tongue out and slurped up huge spoonfuls of the stuff. She blinked as he went deeper and deeper into the cone, shocked by the fact that he didn't feel the need to bury his face in the open end of the cone to get to the tip. Along with having abnormally wide jaws, it seemed he had a shockingly long tongue to boot.

To prove that she wasn't just going crazy, she ordered a cone next, spooning most of it out into her previous bowl so she could attempt to get the ice cream at the bottom of her cone in the same manner Soul was now. Even with her face pressed up against the rim of the cone, there was absolutely no way the tip of her tongue was able to reach the tip of the cone, and Soul was sitting there lazily lapping at it from a good few inches away from the rim, apparently able to get to the bottom easily, with room to spare. She was almost tempted to grab the offending appendage and pull on it until she could measure its actual length, purely for scientific purposes of course, but restrained herself, figuring he would probably bite her again or something.

But seriously, what could be the cause of this anomaly?

She soothed herself by promising herself she would make a trip to the library to research the topic when they returned home tomorrow. With that thought in mind, she was able to mostly focus on her own dessert-dinner. By the time they were done they were both full and moderately sick to their stomachs, but very satisfied none-the-less.

They waddled their way back to the hotel and crashed.

They got a decent amount of rest before their alarms went off, telling them it was time to go kishin egg hunting. After some prowling through the darkened streets, Maka finally caught sight of his soul, red and twisted as it was, and they set off, making for a small chapel. This Rasputin fellow turned out to be rather easy to defeat, perhaps because he had been so cocky he hadn't even tried to dodge their attack, boasting that no bullet could hurt him.

"Do I look like a bullet to you?" Soul asked the floating red soul, grinning at it broadly.

Maka snorted, and watched as usual, as he slurped up the soul. Then a thought occurred to her. As she watched his jaws open wide to accept the relatively large ball, she wondered if maybe the oddness she had noticed earlier with his mouth had to do with eating souls. It was just another topic to add to her list of things to research.

Whatever the case, at least they had acquired one more soul and completed their mission successfully. So it was all good.

However, as they turned to head back to the hotel and maybe catch a few more hours of shut eye before heading home, Maka picked up on something from a chapel just across the street. With her soul perception, she could see many human souls and one meister and weapon pair. It just didn't feel right though, there was an ominous cloud that seemed to be emanating from the chapel, and Maka could practically see the evil rolling off it in waves.

There was something very wrong going on over there, and both Maka's curiosity and her sense of right and wrong told her to go check it out.

"Oi. Maka, what's going on? What're you looking at?" Soul asked, noting her distraction and disturbed expression.

"There's…something not right going on over there. I can see lots of human souls all packed into that-" Her explanation cut off on a gasp when those souls began to get snuffed out at a truly alarming rate. In almost a matter of seconds they were all gone. "NO!" she yelled and dashed to make her way closer, horrified by what she had just witnessed.

Nothing aside from a mass-slaughter could explain the sudden utter absence of souls, but what could have possible caused so much damage with no sound?

"Maka?! What happened?"

"They're gone! They all just disappeared! Killed! Every last one of them!" She yelped, so shocked and terrified that her words came out disjointed and choppy. But Soul got the gist of it, and he quickly followed her in running towards the chapel. Soon they were in front of the chapel doors, and Maka reached out to push one open. However she hesitated, a wave of dread washing over her. That sense of wrongness was a hundred times worse here. Whatever was inside that chapel…it was unlike anything she and Soul had gone up against.

They shouldn't go in there. It was too dangerous. She knew that, her instincts were screaming it at her, and yet she couldn't just leave. Probably close to a hundred people had just died. Surely there was something she could do to help. So, against her better judgment she pushed the doors open and walked inside.

It was a pretty chapel, but the feeling of wrongness tainted it.

In the center of the aisle stood what appeared to be a skinny pink haired boy, dressed in an ankle length black dress of some sort, or perhaps a pastor's smock. The white collar was vaguely reminiscent of a pastor's. The frail-looking teen turned to observe them, and then began speaking, but not to them exactly.

"A girl? Oh no, no, no, I don't know how to…oh dear, I can't deal with this. I don't know how to deal with girls…I can't deal with girls…what am I supposed to do with her?" He whined.

The doors slammed shut behind them, and Maka and Soul instantly turned to try and yank them open again to secure an escape route should they need one, but they were sealed securely shut somehow and refused to budge.

"The doors open only one way…there's no way out…" The boy said almost mildly and though the words were threatening, the way he said them wasn't in the slightest. If anything he sounded melancholy about the fact.

"Um…okay, who are you?" Maka asked, giving up on the doors and hoping to get some information out of the boy.

No matter how hard she looked at him, she kept seeing the same strange thing. He had two souls in his one body, both a weapon and a meister. And it was from him that the ominous feeling of wrongness originated.

"I'm…Crona. Oooh, this isn't good. I don't know how to deal with you at all. You're a girl…I can't talk to you. And you're pretty. I can't deal with pretty girls. What am I supposed to do with her?" By the end it seemed he was talking again to someone else. It didn't even seem like he was talking to himself anymore.

Maka preened a little at being called pretty, but she didn't let the compliment distract her. Maybe they could use this to their advantage.

"Um…Crona you said? Well, Crona, my name is Maka. What happened here? Are you trapped in here as well?"

"The doors open one way…" He repeated, seeming slightly dazed, his unfocused gray eyes settling on her.

"Um…okay, so I'm guessing that means yes." She muttered to herself and then proceeded to ask him, "What happened to all the other people in here? I know there were about a hundred before we came in."

"Oh yes…them…they were all men. I can deal with men. I ate them."

There was a long silence, as both Maka and Soul took a joint step back.

"Uh…did he just say…?" Soul whispered to her, looking as freaked as she felt.

She nodded subtly.

Crona's disturbingly blank gaze settled on Soul then. "You're a boy…can I eat you?"

They both flinched and Maka took an instinctive step forwards and slightly in front of Soul to get Crona's attention. "No. Soul's with me Crona. You can't eat him."

That disturbed and unsure expression once again spread across the curious boy's face. "Oh. Oh no. Not you again. I can't deal with you…"

And then a funny look spread across his face, and he mumbled, "Oh…I can eat her too? But…she's a girl…oh…so I just eat her like the rest of them? Okay…"

That didn't sound good, and Maka took a step back, bumping into Soul in the process. The boy now eyed her up and down in a completely different way, sort of speculatively.

"I've never eaten a girl before. I wonder if you'll taste different…"

He seemed like a whole different person now, sharp and slightly predatory with an edge of crazy in his light gray eyes. It was as if a switch had been thrown in his head.

And then he started contorting and writhing, his body twisting as something emerged from his back, which must have been painful because it caused a shriek to come from his throat. A second being popped out of his back, a creature made entirely of black, and had big googly eyes and white hands almost like a cartoon character. His personality was far from a friendly kid cartoon though, as he instantly began to bully his host.

"Hey! What are you doing just standing around! Come on! Let's get to work!" He barked, whapping the boy on his pink head with one large fist.

Crona winced. "Owww…that hurts Ragnarok, stop it…"

"Oh yeah?! Stupid little weakling, I'll show you hurt." The thing groused, before fish-hooking him with one hand and yanking on his ear with the other.

This got much the same sort of whiny response as the first had, and the two began to bicker…which was somewhat of an odd sight. It was hard to take them seriously with the way they whined and griped at each other, but soon that changed when the black creature fully removed itself and turned into a large black sword. It seemed they were finally ready to do some damage, and Maka quickly reached for Soul's hand.

He transformed, and they managed to block the first surprisingly heavy blow. For such a wispy little thing, the dress-wearing boy wielded a heavy punch. He was also fast, which they quickly found out as he zipped away and then came back at them, using a serpentine sword technique that was difficult to block. He only used one hand, the other tucked around his middle almost in a pathetic way as if cringing. But he moved whip fast, despite the odd stance, and his thin body weaved back and forth, causing the sword to slide through the air like a viper.

They were holding their own against the sword, until it sprouted a mouth and started to scream. The fact that the sword had a mouth was odd enough, but the scream itself made them completely forget about the oddness of the weapon. It resonated in such a way, that as the blade ground down against Soul's steal form, it actually cut him. It didn't cut the steal of his hilt, but Maka saw his reflection as a wound opened up on his shoulder. That had never, ever happened before, and it instantly sent Maka into a panic.

She quickly backed away, her mind racing.

"Soul! You okay? What happened?"

"Dunno…that stupid shrieking the blade was doing somehow resonated with my soul and managed to cut me." He said in harsh tone that spoke of pain, shock, and anger.

They didn't have time to figure out how the hell to deal with the situation though, because Crona was still after them and Ragnarok was still screaming its hilt off.

One crystal clear thought rang through Maka's head…she couldn't let that blade come into contact with Soul. She simply couldn't handle the thought of getting him hurt. So, to the best of her ability she switched to dodging, evading the odd pair and not really even using Soul anymore. He quickly noticed the change and protested – loudly.

"MAKA! What the fuck are you doing? You're gonna get us both killed like that! Use me! I'm your weapon!"

"I can't! He'll cut you if I do." She protested right back, breathlessly since she was using up so much energy trying to dodge the swift stabs.

"So what?! It doesn't matter! I'll be fine! But if you keep up this shit, you're gonna exhaust yourself and then what? We'll be dead!"

Soul was right, and she knew it, but she hated the thought of putting him in harm's way. Still though, there was little choice. But that didn't mean she would be careless. She would use him to cut the enemy, but wouldn't use him to block.

So, with that plan, she kept evading the sword strokes, waiting for an opening. Soul could tell something was different in her movements and the way she wielded him, so he kept his trap shut, but Maka knew he was itching to yell at her some more for not blocking with him. It was pure luck that she had managed to avoid getting wounded so far, but if she kept this up it was only a matter of time before that blade would get her.

Finally she saw her opening, and went for it with everything she had. If this was their one shot, she had to make it count. Whipping Soul around her to get ultimate momentum, she hit the boy with everything she had, cutting into his shoulder. A hit like that would have cut any normal person in two, but as soon as she cut through his skin, the scythe seemed to bounce right off, as if he hit a layer of armor.

Jumping back and out of range, Maka watched with abject horror as the boy reached up and patted the shallow cut, then looked at his bloody palm. He looked up at Maka and rather matter-of-factly said, "My blood is black you know."

Indeed it was. His palm was covered in an oily black substance that had seeped out of the cut on his shoulder. And then, that substance seemed to leap from his palm into the air, where it hovered for a moment. Maka stared at the droplets of black blood, and watched as they formed spikes, all pointed right at her.

"Shit! He can control his blood! Must be able to harden it too." Soul cursed.

"What do we do Soul? If we can't cut him then…"

"I dunno, but watch out!"

Those spikes had launched, and were headed her way. Quickly spinning Soul around in her hands like a propeller in front of her, she was able to deflect most of them, though one or two managed to get past him and cut her.

This posed a problem. If his blood could harden, and there was no way for them to cut him, then how were they supposed to defeat him?

"We've gotta try to resonate, it's our only chance!"

Maka winced. "Yeah, I know."

That took a lot of concentration though, especially for her. So it was a risky proposition, but Soul was right, it was literally their last resort. If they couldn't cut him with normal attacks, then they'd have to try something with more oomph. They still hadn't been able to figure out how to completely resonate, thanks to Maka, but they could still do it a little, and it did increase the power of their attacks significantly.

So, they concentrated on each other through Maka's barrier, and both did their best to match their wavelengths to each other as closely as possible. It was hard, but not impossible, and soon Maka could feel them begin to sync up, their souls vibrating at closer and closer frequencies to each other. As they did, she could feel their souls drawn together like magnets until they were rubbing right up against the barrier, and it began to vibrate too in a dangerous manner.

This was not the time for her to be worried about their souls coming into contact, not when they were in danger of getting killed, but the barrier was just such an integral part of her now that she held it in place through force of habit, which did take some of her valuable concentration. And that was a fatal weakness, because it distracted her, and made it more difficult for her to dodge.

She still refused to block any attacks with Soul, and simply evaded them herself, but if she could just get one hit in, maybe she could end this battle with their increased power. With her divided attention, she was a bit sloppier, and Soul had to call out to her and warn her often about incoming attacks. Maintaining the resonance – such as it was – was tiring as well, and her movements were growing sluggish, but still, she kept her eyes trained on Crona, waiting for another opening. And once again, there was one.

Getting into the opening she managed to swing Soul, and his now ever-so-slightly glowing blade rammed into the boy's middle. The impact sent Crona sailing back, and a spray of black blood hit the air, but it wasn't nearly enough blood for the kind of attack they had just hit him with. It was a paltry amount, showing that once again, he had not been cut very badly. The blood posed yet another danger as well, when it lashed out at Maka. This time it formed almost like a rope or a whip, and snapped into her, hitting her middle with enough force to toss her back and slam her against the door. She hit and then slid down the wooden barrier, crumpling to the ground.

That had been their last chance. If their powered-up attack couldn't harm him, then they were royally screwed. A wave of despair hit Maka, and she wished she could go back in time and listen to her instincts that had told her not to come in here. If only she had been smart enough…

She didn't have time to dwell on her mistake though, because Crona had regrouped and now was coming at her again. There was nowhere for her to go, even as she scrambled to her feet. Her back was against the door, and columns were blocking her in on either side. She couldn't dodge this attack…which only left the option of blocking. That sword was already screaming, and she knew a hit like this would undoubtedly injure Soul, and so she hesitated to use him to block. It was her only option, and yet she couldn't bring up his metal hilt in front of her. Her body simply refused to cooperate as her heart screamed at her not to do it.

That lapse cost her…and it cost Soul.

As the blade came down upon her, Maka could only watch it in abject horror as it approached, and then suddenly the view was blocked by another body and the metal had been ripped from her hands. Soul had done the only thing he could do to protect his meister, and that was to transform and use his body as a shield.

The sword hit Soul with a spray of blood.

* * *

Author's Note:

Hello, all. And finally, we have a cute fluffy scene between Maka and Soul. I must say, I probably enjoyed writing that ice cream scene more than I should have. lol.

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. You guys are all awesome. :D


	4. Chapter 4

The blade landed, cutting into Soul's shoulder and then carving down his torso in a spray of blood.

It almost seemed to happen in slow motion, and all Maka could do was stand there in hopeless shock and horror, as she felt his body slam back into her with the impact of the blow and watch as blood painted the air red in front of them. Soul continued to stay on his feet for what seemed a long second, as if stuck suspended in time. There was a moment of absolute silence as the spray of blood flickered through the air, catching the light, seeming to hang there forever, until with a decisive splash it hit the ground. And with it fell Soul.

He crumpled to the ground with a groan. A cry that Maka had no notion of making tore from her chest as she fell next to him. She managed to catch him under his armpits and lowered him the last few inches more slowly as she went down with him, landing hard on her knees next to his limp body.

Rolling him over, she sucked in her breath and choked on it as she saw the deep wound that seemed almost to cut him in half. It gouged into his body from one shoulder to the opposite hip, as if he had been filleted like a fish. Blood was pouring from the wound, already soaking the stone beneath them and coating her front and legs. His clothes masked some of the wound from sight, but she could see hints of torn flesh and muscle, as well as peeks of white where the sword had skipped across his ribs. Her fingers hovered trembling over him, unsure where it was safe to touch.

She didn't even look up as Crona geared up for another strike, which would undoubtedly fell her. Without Soul, there was no way she could fight him anyways, and her entire world was absorbed by her fear for her partner's life. The jeopardy of her own life didn't seem to matter all that much to her in comparison.

As the fatal blow headed towards her, she glanced up. Right before the sword cut into her face and neck, a black blade speared through the door bare inches from her shoulder.

She gasped and looked to the side, to see a very familiar scythe emerging from the wood of the door. It had thrown back the pink haired menace. At that point the doors slammed open, nearly ripped from their hinges and Maka didn't think she'd ever been so happy to see Stein and her father, who were undeniably her two least favorite men.

Seeing Maka and a bleeding Soul on the ground, they said a few words of comfort to her before engaging Crona.

She glanced at them for a moment but almost immediately turned back to Soul, her relief still suppressed under the immense anxiety she felt for her partner at the moment. Very gently she slid her hands under his body, his blood making the process easy as it acted like a slippery lubricant. She gathered him into her arms and lifted him, ever so carefully into her lap, wrapping her arms around him and first rocking him a little while sobbing, at first thinking maybe he was dead. But then as his warm breath hit her face and more blood slid down her arm she realized he was still with her, still alive, and she quickly bent one leg out under him to act as a cradle for his head and shoulders while the other propped up over him, almost protectively like a seatbelt, and then yanked her coat off roughly.

Cradling a bleeding Soul in her lap, Maka ignored the battle going on around her, much more focused on pressing her bunched-up coat against his wound to try and stop the frantic bleed-out. She couldn't stop her tears though, the salty fluid slipping unchecked down her cheeks and dripping onto Soul's face as she pressed her forehead to his, willing him to be okay.

His breath stuttered against her face, and he sputtered, seeming to choke a little. Sucking in a sharp breath, she jerked back and while keeping one hand on his chest and the compress, she used her other to lift his head and shoulders up a bit, to try and prevent him from choking on whatever he was inhaling. He sputtered a little more and then coughed up a bit of blood and his breathing eased a tiny bit. Still, Maka could hear a frightening rattle in his inhales, which did not bode well at all.

The fight moved outside, but Maka stayed put, not moving even an inch as she held Soul to her. Her heart nearly stopped when he quit breathing entirely, and her mind went numb with panic. Thinking fast, she quickly laid him back down on her leg and used that hand to pinch his nose closed before performing mouth to mouth, trying desperately to get him to breathe. After a few breaths he sputtered back to life and she quickly lifted him again so he could cough out some blood.

It wasn't long after that that Stein came in and knelt next to her. He didn't bother to try and move him off her lap, but only pushed her hands away and then used a scalpel to cut his shirt from his chest before putting his hands on Soul's bare chest. A moment later silvery threads sprung into being, closing the wound and stopping the bleeding.

"That'll hold it until we can get him home." Stein said, wiping a sweaty brow and smearing blood onto his own skin accidentally.

After that it was all a blur as they rushed Soul back home at top speed, where he was instantly taken into emergency surgery.

Maka settled herself outside the doors, sitting on the cold floor. She tucked her knees up into her chest, and wrapped her arms around them, waiting. She waited for hours, until eventually the doors reopened and she sprung to her feet. Her body instantly declared that she had been sitting too long, and she nearly fell over as her legs suddenly woke up from being asleep, shooting tingles up and down her nerves. Leaning against the wall for support, she desperately asked Stein, "How is he? Is he okay?"

The doctor sighed, took his glasses off and cleaned them as he said, "Yes. He should be fine now. He's just resting."

"Oh thank god." Maka breathed, slumping and nearly slipping back down the wall to her knees.

After a long moment she hesitantly asked, "Can I…see him?"

Stein nodded and motioned with his head at the doors in acceptance of the request, and she didn't wait for verbal confirmation, just hustled with all the grace she could muster on her wobbly legs. However, her progress was stalled a bit when she saw Soul's pale form lying limp in the bed. She proceeded more slowly into the room, pulling the white curtain around his bed before dragging a chair as close as she could to his bedside and parking her butt in it. Her eyes traced his peaceful features, no longer spattered in blood, and - hesitating a bit - she reached out and smoothed some of his messy hair away from his eyes.

He was hooked up to all manner of IVs and monitors and she glanced at them, wishing she knew what they were saying and what it all meant - if he was doing good or bad. After a moment she sighed and averted her eyes, instead looking back at him. At least he didn't look like he was in pain.

Reaching out she gently picked up his IV free hand and held it between her own, whispering, "I'm so sorry. This was all my fault. Please… _please_ be okay."

She couldn't help but tear up again a little and bowed her head, letting the tears slide down her nose as she sniffled quietly - not wanting to be heard by the nurses and whoever else was in the room. She refused to budge from that spot for the whole night, and despite being sleep deprived she stayed there the next day as well.

Maka refused to leave, not until he woke up at least.

So, she bunked on the bed next to his, curling up on her side so she could face him and watch over his sleeping form. There wasn't anything else she could do for him. Dr. Stein had done everything already, and now it was just a matter of letting him recover.

This lasted several days, and she only left to use the restroom. Thankfully, Tsubaki stopped by every day and brought Maka something to eat, otherwise she would have been hungry as well as sleep-deprived.

Every evening, eventually the lights were turned down low, a few staying on in the corners and of course the monitors and machines produced an eerie glow as well. With the dim light she was able to rest a little, not quite able to get to sleep, but drifting close to it as she stayed by his side through the night. But every night she had the same nightmare over and over again. Every time she got close to sleep, she would see him getting slashed by that black sword and would jerk back awake, terrified.

This continued, until finally something changed three days after the incident.

Once again, Maka was attempting to get some sort of rest and was failing as per usual. After she snapped back to the land of awakeness for the tenth time with a slight whimper, she abruptly realized that she wasn't the only one. She was startled even more awake by a slight groan that came from the next bed over and she instantly was on high alert, worried that Soul was experiencing some sort of complication.

She sat up and hurried over to his bedside, leaning down to look at his face. He was sweating, his pale hair sticking to his skin, and for a moment she worried maybe he had a fever, but when she put her hand on his forehead it was just sticky with sweat, not unnaturally hot. She withdrew her hand, watching as his head tossed on the pillow, another deep groan seeming to be pulled from his chest. His lips twisted up into a grimace and his eyes squeezed shut in either pain or distress, and Maka was just about to run and get the nurse when he gasped loudly and then cried out, his whole body seeming to jerk.

That got her back to his side, right in time for his hand to lash out and latch onto her wrist, grabbing her tight enough to almost hurt as his eyes snapped open. For a moment there was sheer panic clouding those red eyes as he looked wildly around the room. Then his gaze landed on her, and he seemed to snap out of it, settling back down into his pillow, though his breathing was still heavy.

"M-Maka…y-you're okay…"

"Soul! Are you okay?" She asked, accidentally talking right over his mumbled words, not even realizing he had spoken it was so quiet.

He blinked and then fixed his still slightly distressed face into a mostly smooth mask, complete with slightly cocky grin. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just had a bit of a bad dream, that's all."

Maka didn't really believe the casual front he was putting up. That must have been one hell of a bad dream to make him react so intensely. But it was obvious he didn't want to talk about it, so she let the subject drop.

"Right… so, how do you feel?" She asked instead, perching herself delicately on the edge of his bed. He didn't seem to realize that he was still tightly holding onto her wrist, and she decided not to point it out.

"Um…" He winced, shifting around a little as he seemed to test the state of his body. "Okay I guess. How long have I been out?"

"About three days now I guess."

His eyes popped open wide. "Three days?! Holy Shit!"

Before he could get too excitable she said, "Yeah, well you got hurt pretty bad."

He blinked, and then it seemed everything started coming back to him. "Oh, right. Yeah, I remember now."

Maka nodded, and then had to look away as a surge of guilt threatened to suck her under.

She heard him make a little pained hissing sound, and subtly reached over to the button on his IV that the nurse had shown her in case he woke up during the night. She had been told that the little button would give him a dose of pain relievers. Before punching it she glanced at him, took one look at his pained expression, and then pushed it.

It was her fault. She should have been stronger, should have been able to defeat the enemy without Soul being injured. She should have been a better meister, should have leveled up Soul and gotten him strong enough to handle that, should have had the sense to not go in there when she knew it was going to be bad. She shouldn't have used that stupid shield, should have been able to resonate with him without having a panic attack. There were so many 'should haves.'

It was all her fault.

"You should probably try to get some more rest…" She finally said quietly.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess it's the middle of the night or something right?" He mumbled, his words already starting to get slurred from drowsiness and pain killers.

She nodded and moved to get off the bed, but something held her back. Soul's hand was still wrapped around her wrist, and refused to let go. Looking back up at his face to see if he was still awake, she was confronted by a pair of crimson half-mast unfocused eyes. He was out of it from the drugs now in his system, and was quickly falling asleep. The drugs also had the effect of making him basically drunk, removing his filters and inhibitions and making him more honest than he ever would be normally.

"Maka…" He said, his voice thick and drugged now. "Don't go…Kay?"

Something squeezed hard in her chest, and she simultaneously felt like laughing and crying. There was something warm and fuzzy that made her want to smile at his asking her to stay, and then something dark that she recognized as that same haunting guilt. Soul was not an emotional guy, and he didn't ever ask anyone to do something like this for him.

Nobody…except for Maka.

When he was sick he tended to turn into a bit of a whiny baby and Maka had taken care of him on those occasions. She had brought him soup and tea, taken his temperature, made sure he took his medicines on time, and everything else that was involved when nursing a pathetic sick man-child. He couldn't seem to take care of himself when he was ill. To be fair though, she was much the same way, if not worse, and he had done the same for her. They had traded many colds that way.

He had never asked her to stay with him before though. But as the drugs stripped away that hard outer shell, the left-over fear from the nightmare was revealed and exposed just how much it had shaken him. She was helpless to his pleading look and figured she'd do just about anything he asked, and so she stayed.

He fell asleep with her sitting on the side of his bed holding his hand now, and as soon as he fell asleep he was out like a log. And yet…he still didn't release her hand.

She had promised to stay, and so she stayed, even though he was deep in a drug-induced sleep and probably wouldn't even remember asking her in the morning. However, the lack of sleep was starting to catch up to her too, and she found herself falling asleep upright. Repeatedly her body jerked back as she drooped as if to fall over. Eventually, she lost the battle, and decided that just resting a little wouldn't be a bad thing. So – already half-asleep and not necessarily thinking strait – she scooted down and then flopped over. She still had enough presence of mind to make sure not to lay down on any IVs or other important tubes in the narrow space she was allotted next to him.

She ended up curled up on her side, her arm tucked up under her head, above which their clasped hands still rested on the bed. Her head was level with his hip, and her legs dangled off the side of the bed. Though it was uncomfortable, she was tired enough that she fell asleep anyways.

The next morning she woke first, thankfully. Upon realizing that she had slept alongside him – halfway on the same bed as him, she bolted upright. A quick look at his face showed that he was still sound asleep, and Maka blew out a breath of relief. Hopefully he wouldn't even remember asking her to stay with him or holding her hand because - knowing Soul - he would get all ridiculous and uncomfortable around her for ages. They were both kind of like that when it came to being vulnerable.

Carefully she slipped off the bed, making sure not to wake him, and moved herself to the next bed over. He woke a few hours later, after Nurse Medusa had come in for the day. She checked him over and of course called for Doctor Stein to look him over as well. He was doing well, and since he was awake, Maka now made herself scarce. When he was asleep she had been unable to leave his side, but now that his red eyes were open and looking at her, she was struck dumb by guilt every time she looked at him, and didn't want him to see it.

Soon enough, he was released from the hospital and was cleared to come home again. But Maka still couldn't quite look him in the eye, feeling too deeply ashamed of herself for getting him hurt. She couldn't look at him without being reminded of how she failed him - seeing him falling back into her, his blood spraying the air.

Of course he noticed something was wrong. How could he not? After all, if Soul had suddenly started acting towards her the way she was currently acting towards him, she would have known something was up instantly.

At first he let her be, seeming to think she was just upset or something and would work it out herself. But as she failed to do so, he slowly started losing his patience with her and her behavior.

But he didn't know what was wrong, what tortured her and kept her awake at night, and she refused to talk to him about it.

She couldn't talk about it. How was she supposed to? Just tell him that she was being eaten alive with guilt for getting him hurt? That it was all her fault for not sucking it up and resonating with him the way she was supposed to? That because of her weakness he had almost gotten killed? How was she supposed to tell him any of that, when just the thoughts themselves, alone in her head, made her despise herself. She couldn't bear the thought of Soul loathing her too, so she absolutely refused to tell him what it was that made her hate herself.

Dark thoughts plagued her. More concerns just stacked themselves on top of each other, getting stranger and more warped as they went.

Why did this upset her so much? Why did him getting hurt give her such nightmares? Of course seeing a friend get hurt would upset anyone, but this…this was something different altogether. There was something _more_ at work here than simply being upset at her friend being hurt because of her stupidity. It was so much worse than it should be. She'd seen other partners fuck up and get each other hurt, and of course they felt bad, but it wasn't _**debilitating**_ to them. So why her?

There had to be a reason why she wanted to throw up every time she thought about it, why it made her physically hurt to remember. Why did it hurt so much? Why was it impossible to think about her failure without her chest feeling like it was being ripped apart from the inside? Why was she unable to forgive herself for causing him to nearly get killed? Not that she wanted to forgive herself for it, it was unforgivable as far as she was concerned.

Soul had been hurt.

Because of her.

And that fact tortured her. But why? Why so badly?

These thoughts wouldn't let up, the wondering keeping her awake at night, only to occupy her mind the next day.

The emotions were too wild, too hot for her chest to contain without them burning her, and she had no idea of their origin or why they were impossible for her to handle.

And that wasn't the only thing that bothered her. Another thought kept popping up in her head with increasing frequency.

Why had he gone so far to protect her?

Had he just done it because of some sense of duty as her weapon?

For some reason, that thought hurt her as well, the thought that he had only risked his life for her - put himself in so much danger just because of their roles. She wasn't even sure she wanted to continue wielding him as a weapon if it would prompt him to put himself in harm's way like that. And it wasn't even so much the thought of him getting himself hurt to protect her that bothered her - it was more the _**why**_ of it. Somehow, the thought that it was prompted _only_ by some sense of duty bothered her… far more than it ever had before.

Which of course begged the question of "why" yet again. Why was it so bothersome to think of him protecting her only because it was what he was supposed to do? What more did she want from him? It had never bothered her before. After all, weapons were technically supposed to protect their meisters above all else. And it made sense; weapons were far less easily harmed, unlike their flesh and blood wielders.

Obviously, in some still sane part of her brain, she knew that they were also best friends, and he would want to protect her because of that as well, but the other thoughts somehow forced the more logical thoughts to submit under far less intelligent contemplation.

Soul wasn't the only one to notice something was wrong. Stein could see it easily enough as well. He could read souls just like her after all, and he could read her distress as plainly as a book. It was even affecting her work, and so after about a week of that, Stein pulled her aside after class.

"Maka…" He began, taking his glasses off, cleaning them, and then sliding them back up his nose. "I can't help but notice that something is off with you lately. It's affecting your grades, and undoubtedly will affect you once you return to the field after Soul has healed."

Maka grimaced, but didn't respond.

He fixed her with a stern look. "This is something you are going to have to deal with, Maka. I can help you, but only once you openly acknowledge what it is that you are lacking. I can give you and Soul special training, the way I am with Black Star, but I will have to tailor it specifically to your needs."

"You can train me? To be stronger?"

"In a sense. In Black Star's case, he simply needs to strengthen his soul so that he can handle the drain of Tsubaki's new form. And with him, pure stubborn repetitiveness seems to work best. However, your weakness is something altogether different. However, as I said, you will have to recognize it for yourself first, before I will address it."

She bit her lip. Maybe he could help her to construct a barrier that would be more efficient and would allow them to resonate. Then again…maybe the barrier was the problem itself. But how could he possibly give her any sort of training to strengthen her heart and heal her emotional problems? Whatever the case, she resolved herself to try and figure it out.

"I understand. Thank you Dr. Stein." With that, she left.

That night, she went back to the apartment, absorbed in her thoughts.

Stein had been right. She was lacking in something, and she knew exactly what that something was. Her fears had crippled her, her concern for Soul, her lack of courage to tell him what was bothering her, and of course that ever present weakness that had gotten them hurt in the first place. She needed to talk to him.

So deciding, she squared her shoulders and walked over to his bedroom door, took a deep breath, and then knocked and opened it without waiting for a reply - ready to try and hash some of this out. That turned out to not be the brightest idea though, because she was met by the sight of Soul staring back at her with slightly shocked eyes and his shirt in his hands, just about to go over his head.

She froze, her eyes instantly drawn to the pink, still healing scar ripping his chest in half at a diagonal… and really looked at it for the first time. It was one of the reasons why she had avoided visiting him in the medical ward once he woke up, because she had accidentally walked in on an exam once, and the sight of his scar had been too much for her to handle. Since then, she had avoided looking at it, terrified of the horror and aching that she felt upon seeing it for the first time. So now, she found herself fighting the urge to avert her eyes, but this time she forced herself to look. Partly she felt it was a punishment – that she deserved the pain and agony of seeing it – but also felt that she should look at and acknowledge what had been wrought from her own weakness.

But then something switched and she couldn't look away, no matter how much she tried.

 **SOUL POV**

He froze as he noticed Maka staring. Normally her walking into his bedroom while he was changing would have resulted in him flapping his arms around and maybe yelling at her to knock first or something, but with the way she was looking at him now all he did was hold still and wait to see what happened. There was pain in her eyes as she stared, and he followed her gaze to the fresh scar adorning his chest.

Abruptly, he felt the urge to cover it, both from an odd sense of self-consciousness and also because it seemed to be distressing her. But he refrained from moving, instead choosing to see if he could get her to talk to him about it.

Soul was not the kind of guy who liked to talk about emotions, not at all, but he was okay with listening to her talk about whatever was upsetting her, if it would help erase that tortured look from her face. He desperately wanted to know what was causing her to look so agonized. He hated that expression on her face and wanted to know the cause so he could eliminate it - and that expression from her face - forever.

"Maka…?" He murmured, but she didn't even seem to hear him. He cleared his throat and tried again, talking sort of softly so as to try not to startle her. "Uh…you okay? What's up? Why are you looking at me like that?"

She grimaced, seeming to have heard him this time, but she just averted her gaze – briefly – before looking back, her stare locking back on his chest. She frowned, but it was a sad frown, and for a long moment she just stood there in his doorway and stared at his scar. Then, almost as if she was in a trance, she slowly walked further into his room.

He had to fight the urge to step back as she stepped forwards, and held himself still out of sheer will power. What was she doing? Was she coming over here to hug him? To hit him? He honestly couldn't tell. Whatever the reasoning behind her odd behavior, he got the sense that she was struggling with something, and if coming in here and staring at him would help her then he'd stay put and let her do…whatever it was that she planned on doing. Although, he highly doubted she was actually planning this out at all, given the slightly glazed look in her eyes, as if she was working just on instinct at the moment.

She got within touching distance and then stopped, still staring at that angry red mark on his chest. Once again she paused and stood still, quietly staring at him in that disconcerting manner. And then, much to his shock, her hand reached out, hovering for a moment over his skin for a long moment before her fingers touched him, very gently. He shivered a little as her touch ghosted over his chest, tracing down the scar. Her fingertips didn't come into contact with the healing wound, but rather traveled down just to the side of it.

He sucked in a breath and held it, having trouble holding still as her fingers slid down his chest and across his stomach on the diagonal. His muscles clenched while his stomach did some weird somersaults inside him under her hand. It didn't hurt. She was gentle and careful to avoid contacting the wound itself - not that it would hurt anyways at this stage of healing. But he was extra sensitive there at the moment, and her light touch was almost ticklish… but also kind of pleasant in a weird way that made him feel uncomfortable, as if this wasn't something they should be doing.

As if his thoughts had been transmitted to her, she froze, seeming to come back to her senses. After a second she jerked back with a small sound, her eyes wide and shocked. She looked utterly bewildered by her own actions, and swiftly backtracked, backing her butt out of his room rather quickly - and slightly ungracefully - with some mumbled apology that was barely understandable. His door closed with a snap, and a second later he was sure he heard her whack either her head or her fist into the wall next to it, as a muffled yell sounded from outside the closed door.

She obviously hadn't intended to do that, whatever _that_ was, and it seemed that she was upset she had.

Soul sure as shit didn't know what the hell had just happened any more than she seemed to, and he stared at the closed door, blinking with shock.

 **MAKA POV**

Maka did not sleep well, probably because of what she had done.

But, at the very least, she had come to the conclusion that yes she did need Stein's help. So the next day she approached him after class again, telling him she knew what she was lacking. He seemed unsurprised and merely nodded, asking that she and Soul meet him for private lessons that weekend.

Unsurprisingly, Saturday morning did not find Soul in a good mood, and he complained the whole way. "Maka, why do we have to go to class on Saturday!? It's the weekend for god's sake!"

"I told you, they're private lessons Stein's put together for us, like the way he's training Black Star."

He just grunted, dragging his feet as he lazily slumped along beside her down the hall, looking half-asleep. He didn't seem to wake up too much even when they met Stein - who made a snide remark about Soul and his inability to act like a normal human being in the morning.

"Ugh, what the heck's that smell?" The scythe groused as Stein led them into a room filled with burning candles, which did indeed smell quite strong. In less concentrated amounts Maka was sure it would be a pleasant herbal smell, but at this intensity it felt like they were in an apothecary shop or something, and even she had to hold back a sneeze.

"These candles emit that scent." Stein divulged, guiding them to sit on some pillows in the middle of the room. "The smoke heightens emotions."

Instantly Maka found herself on edge, realizing Stein's intentions. This was not going to be good for her. She was already such an emotional mess, the last thing she needed was emotionally heightening candles.

"M'kay, so what are we supposed to do now?" Soul asked, still rather grumpy, and seeming only more so now.

"Just talk to each other. Tell each other what's peeving you about the other, or anything you're hiding from each other. You need to talk honestly about how you are feeling."

Maka immediately knew this was going to be impossible for her, but she resolved to do her best.

Soul on the other hand had no problem laying onto her - first by griping about being dragged out of bed on a Saturday. That wasn't too bad, although it did irritate her. It wasn't until he started getting into asking her just why she was doing this in the first place that things started getting difficult.

"What the heck's with this training anyway? Why were you so insistent we do this? What's the purpose of it?"

"It's important because to sync properly we have to talk about stuff." She said, trying to keep her cool, and since it was technically the truth she was able to get it out relatively intact.

But it only seemed to make him madder. "Oh we do, do we? So then why don't you tell me what's got under your skin lately? Why are you so freaked out and depressed all the time? You won't even look at me anymore hardly!"

Maka gritted her teeth. Both had forgotten about Stein's presence.

She took too long to respond, and Soul lost his patience even quicker than normal. "Does this training have something to do with it? Huh?"

"This training is to get me stronger so you don't ever get hurt because of me again!" She finally said rather loudly, though she hadn't intended to.

"That's stupid."

"How is it stupid for me to want to get stronger?"

"It's stupid because you, the meister, are trying to get stronger so you can do my job. _I'm_ supposed to protect _you_ from getting hurt! Not the other way around!"

And there it was again, that sharp pang when she thought about him only doing this because of his "job." But in this room, with these candles, it hit her like a typhoon. And abruptly she knew what it was that bothered her so much about it. She didn't like the idea of him protecting her out of a sense of duty, because it meant that he wasn't doing it out of affection for her.

A lightbulb came on, and she suddenly couldn't breathe.

Finally, it clicked into place.

She had grown feelings for him… feelings beyond just friendship. She had no idea what exactly those feelings were, she was far from an expert of matters of the heart – by choice – and so this new situation utterly terrified her. She couldn't possibly have a crush on her weapon partner, although… at this particular moment it seemed like maybe she did. In fact, it seemed _more_ than a silly school-girl crush.

Then again, the word "CRUSH" did describe the way she felt right now pretty well, as if she was being crushed under some great and terrible weight.

Were these feelings romantic in nature? They were more than friendly platonic feelings, she knew that at least. But did that automatically take them into the realm of romance?

Did she like him - as in the one that was inflected with a different meaning, the one people doubled when talking in hushes whispers.

Did she want to be his girlfriend or something?

 _Oh god no_ …just the thought of being trapped in an actual relationship, committed to someone and trusting them to stay committed to her…nearly made her want to pass out.

These thoughts spun around her head, making her feel like she had vertigo. How could she have developed feelings for Soul? Of course, if she was going to do it, it would have been him. She trusted him more than anyone else, was closer to him than anyone else - naturally he would be the one if she was ever going to develop feelings for someone. But still…she hadn't ever wanted to fall into the trap called romance.

 _Oh god, what have I done?_

She didn't know exactly what it was she was feeling, but she did know one thing for deadly sure. These emotions scared the shit out of her. The candles did not help in the least, and she very nearly had a panic attack right then and there.

And that was that. She refused to say another word.

Soul, meanwhile, saw her face twist and when she went quiet he knew something bad had happened. No matter how he tried to prompt her into talking to him she clammed up tight and didn't say anything more, almost looking like she was about to cry in fact. It frustrated him to no end that she wouldn't just fucking let him in already and tell him what was freaking her out so bad.

With his aggravation, he too stopped talking, and that was the end of the exercise. They stopped talking altogether and returned home back to the apartment in thick silence.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

A _aaaa_ nd, we have a light bulb. Bing! Maka has now figured out that she has a crush on Soul. What do you suppose is going to happen next? Any ideas? ;D

As always, thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far, you are amazing and wonderful and keep me wanting to write. :D

Oh and, of course I don't own Soul Eater, disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer.


	5. Chapter 5

For the next few days, Soul and Maka barely spoke to each other. This new development didn't sit well with either of them, but Maka simply couldn't bring herself to talk to him at the moment, not when her emotions were all over the place like this.

Neither of them was overly enthused when, a mere few days later, they were sent out on yet another remedial lesson - with Black Star and Tsubaki no less. They hadn't fought together since the candle room incident, and Maka was not entirely sure she was even capable of wielding Soul at the moment. Even the slightest bit of soul syncing felt like too much right now.

But still, orders were orders, and so they set off, heading to a city where some disturbances had been reported.

Standing on a cold bridge, Maka blew her breath into the air and watched the frosty cloud whisk away. "So…We're supposed to just stand here and wait to see if something comes to us?" She muttered sourly, grumbling under her breath at the ridiculous orders.

"Well, they said that whatever's making the disturbance is heading this way, and it has to cross this bridge to get to the other part of the city." Tsubaki said, shrugging.

"Just what kind of disturbances are we talking about anyways?" Soul asked, a scowl set firmly on his face.

"I don't know! But they must be bad to have such a big star like me sent here!" Black Star exclaimed, loudly as per usual.

Maka rolled her eyes and looked out over the cold looking black river beneath them. The lights up here on the bridge didn't touch those dark waters, and Maka glared gloomily at them, as if they had the answers to all her problems.

After an hour or two of waiting, her morose thoughts were interrupted by someone popping up, almost out of no-where. They should have seen him way before he showed up, given just how huge this dude was and the odd prison clothes and ball and chain he was wearing. This guy could cause a disturbance just by walking down the street - undoubtedly he was their perp.

He seemed to think much the same.

"Excuse me, are you from the DWMA?" He asked, almost politely.

"Yes! And we're here to stop you!" Black Star announced at top volume.

"Excellent. Do any of you know a Soul or Maka by any chance?"

"Who wants to know?" Maka asked, not liking that he knew their names.

"I've been sent to take you out." He responded and his dark eyes locked onto her, obviously figuring out her identity.

"And just who are you?" Soul drawled, curling a lip in the guy's direction.

"My name is Free." Was all he said.

It was at that moment that Black Star ran out of patience and began the assault, trying to wield Tsubaki's newest technique, an enchanted sword that consumed an enormous amount of soul pressure, but he collapsed just a little shy of reaching their opponent, passing out in the snow from overexertion. That weapon-form was still obviously too much for his soul to handle. This of course left Soul and Maka alone to handle the menace all on their own, a prospect that didn't look too good.

Maka already had a nasty suspicion of just who this character was, being as well read as she was, and she could only hope her hunch was wrong. However, when he began muttering, "Wolf-wolves-wolf-wolf-wolves…" and his body began to expand and morph –Maka knew she was right. She and Soul stared in horror as he grew even taller and bulkier than he already was, and his face morphed into a snout while a tail sprouted from his butt. Fur popped up all over him like miracle grass, and they were left gaping at a fully transformed wolf-man in prison garb.

If that wasn't bad enough, one of his eyes was white with a magical symbol written in red where an iris and pupil should be. There was no doubt he was the supposedly immortal warlock, who had stolen Maba's – the leader of the witches – left eye. He was rumored to be impossible to defeat, and Maka's stomach just continued to drop deeper into her gut as dread settled within her.

Still, she reached for Soul, going into all-business mode. At the very least going up against such a powerful opponent snapped her out of her mopey funk. There was no time for her to be wishy washy and silly and emotional right now, it would just get them all killed.

Fully intending to take the guy on, Maka grasped Soul's handle with both hands in a firm grip, ready to wield him as she normally would. Only…as soon as she touched him, pain seared her palms, and she yelped in shock, dropping him in the snow to look at the cloth of her gloves. She fully expected to see the white material to have blackened with the heat she had felt coming from him, but it seemed to have only affected her body and not her gloves.

He had burned her, the tenderness in her palms attested to that. She had dropped him before he had actually injured her, but how was she supposed to fight with him like this?

"MAKA! What's going on?!" He shouted, from where he was lying at her feet, his reflection looking rather frantic as he peered out at her from the blade.

Swallowing thickly, Maka shook her head. She couldn't tell him, he would refuse to fight with her and then he would get hurt again. This had to be all because of that training exercise she had forced them to do…it must have gotten their souls out of sync.

Whatever the case, there was nothing she could do about it now. If she wielded him long enough, their souls should click back into place…she'd just have to deal with the pain till then. She refused to have him get hurt again because of her.

So, gritting her teeth, she grabbed him once more, ready for the searing pain that instantly assaulted her hands. Trying her best to not focus on the agony accosting her, she readied her stance, getting Soul up right in time to block the first attack by Mr. Wolfman.

Grunting, she slid backwards on the slippery snow covered bridge.

Their souls being out of alignment meant that she couldn't wield him as easily as usual, and she couldn't spin him much for fear of him flipping right out of her hands. So she just held him tight and whacked at the enemy, using every move she could think of to evade his attacks and try to get around him and deal a blow. Avoiding an ice spike he formed with his magic, she threw herself to the ground, using her momentum to slide right between the guy's legs, finding it easy since he was so dang tall and slightly ungainly with apparently slow reflexes. Flipping onto her stomach and then angling Soul, she managed to get her feet under her and yank his blade right into their opponent's legs, toppling him over and dealing him a blow that for most people would be crippling.

Mr. Wolfman, however, seemed to heal up right away, and peeled himself off the ground. He whipped around to send another block of ice at her, humorously slipping a little as he did. She barely avoided it, but a sharp chip flew off and pierced her shoulder, causing her to hiss and flinch back at the little spark of pain. At least she didn't have to worry about removing it, since it was ice and would just melt.

His ice was hard to avoid, and she had to remember where it was so she wouldn't trip over a block accidentally as they fought, a mistake he repeatedly made over his own obstacles. In fact, he even impaled himself on some ice spikes at one point. The wound should have been deadly, but once again, he was just fine, only sounding mildly irritated as he grumbled, "Damn, I've gotta remember not to put spikes where I can fall on them."

Bewildered and more than a little freaked out by now, Maka stood there, gaping at him, wondering just how they were supposed to defeat him. What the hell could they do to someone who was perfectly okay about having spears of ice shoved all the way through his body? They must have hit vital organs on the way through, but apparently he didn't have any weak points. Maybe the only way to defeat him would be to completely annihilate him with an explosion or something.

At the very least, it seemed Soul's and her wavelengths had gotten more in sync, since it didn't feel like he was as hot anymore. Of course it could have been that the pain had just gotten so bad she couldn't tell if he was still burning her or if the agony was from the burns already there. It really seemed like their soul wavelengths were matching up better though. Nonetheless, she was still hesitant to spin him around like normal, just in case she was wrong.

"What are you doing Maka? We can't take him on like this!" Soul bellowed, sounding about as freaked as her.

"I know! But what else are we supposed to do?!" She yelled back, scowling down at his reflection.

"We've gotta resonate! It's our only hope!"

Maka cursed, knowing he was right, but definitely not wanting to do that - not now. She hesitated too long, and hissed, "Sh-shit!" as she was knocked back by a hefty blow from one massive furry paw, only to crash into a painfully solid ice barrier.

The impact was such that Soul was knocked clean out of her hands and she crumpled to the ground, landing on her knees and coughing, gasping for breath. At least she'd only landed against a block and not on a mass of spikes. Still, she could feel bruises already blooming all along her back where she had hit, and it took a few precious moments to regain use of her flattened lungs. The pain thrumming through her body now made her dizzy but also strangely cleared her head.

One thought struck her, clear as a bell.

They were about to die.

Unless they could get their butts in gear, all four of them would be smeared across the pavement of this cold bridge. Once she and Soul were done for, he would probably just go for Tsubaki and the passed out Black Star. With this thought in mind, Maka knew what she had to do.

Shoving herself to her feet and diving into a tumble, she dodged another attack as she slid across the ice and snow on the bridge towards Soul. She skidded to a halt on a knee and elbow right beside his prone metal form and scooped him up before leaping to her feet.

"Okay…"

Soul instantly responded, his soul resonating behind her shield, and she matched him, feeling the vibrations of his wavelengths through her thin barrier. It shook, quaking like a wineglass at the mercy of an opera singer, and Maka struggled to hold it together, while still matching her wavelengths perfectly to Soul's, resonating with him.

However, faced with this powerful of an enemy, Maka still struggled to hold her own even with their resonance.

Of course part of the problem was that some of her concentration was lacking as she also tried to keep her barrier intact. That lack of concentration cost her, and she suffered a brutal blow to the stomach, throwing her back into a support of the bridge. This time though, she kept hold of Soul, and managed to roll to her feet again in relatively short order, wheezing a bit at the pain. There was a possibility that she had just sustained some internal injuries with that attack. At the very least all her organs had been thoroughly bruised, judging by the cramping and sharp ache that made her not want to stand up straight.

Even through the shield, Soul was able to feel her intense pain whilst resonating with her.

What Maka had no way of knowing, was that the black blood had slipped in and took root when Crona injured him. It had turned into the form of a little devil … one that was now tempting him to give in to the madness and seek power through darkness.

Desperate to have the power to protect her and prevent her from getting even more injured, Soul wasn't given much of a choice. He was forced to take the little demon's offer, succumbing to the black blood and accepting the rush of power that flooded him.

Maka had no idea why his soul suddenly grew so much larger, unexpectedly swamping her, and for a brief moment she cried out, holding on to the dinky little shield that protected her soul from his. Against this new power though, her barrier was nothing more than a thin pane of glass against a torrential hurricane and it shattered as she felt his soul engulf her. It was as if he was trying to eat her or something. Freezing, she quaked, locked in place as she felt him taking her over, a deep dark power oozing from him and threatening to drown them both.

It was terrifying, but the violent swirl of blackness that wanted to eat them both alive was nothing compared to feeling her soul come into direct, blazing contact with his own. This wasn't just syncing up like they normally did when she wielded him, this was resonance – weak and incomplete as it was – and that meant direct soul to soul contact, hers rubbing right up against his. It was just lucky that they hadn't mastered the art of true resonance, otherwise their souls wouldn't have just been in close contact with each other; they would have been meshing together into a single soul practically. Even so, the brutal intimacy stole her breath right from her lungs.

Thankfully the blast of intense soul wavelength that exploded from them drove the enemy back a tad and he stalled, obviously sensing a change and trying to decide on his next move. If he had attacked right then, Maka would have been helpless to block him.

One good thing about the resonance and soul to soul contact was that the sensation managed to shock Soul enough to knock him out of the mild state of insanity he had sunk into; and he quickly grappled himself under control. He seized power over the dark forces oozing from the demon inside of him, and wrangled it into something he could control, instead of allowing it to devour him and - in turn - Maka. Even deep in the madness, he had felt his soul swell to an enormous size and try to consume hers – a sensation that had terrified him down to his very core.

Still, even once he had wrestled himself under control, he was left feeling a little unsteady, mainly out of shock. Now _he_ felt like the one being overwhelmed by _her_ soul. He had never felt her soul against his - not like this, not nearly this clearly. It was as if he had been straining to listening to some faint song from behind a door with a pillow over his head. Now it was blasting loud and clear and nearly deafening him.

All the soul contact before this was like they had been talking to each other from across the room, and now they had abruptly gone from that to some sort of tight intimate embrace. It shocked him so much that he wasn't able to pay attention to her swinging him around - but he sure as hell felt it when the length of him tingled like it had been shot through with power and energy as he morphed. Amazingly, it was as if he was almost made of light now and he expanded and curved into an impressively massive crescent shaped blade.

It was an amazing rush, adrenaline and power flooding his veins and making him feel drunk, intoxicated on both her and the power, and he was glad he wasn't in his human form, because he wouldn't be able to walk strait and probably would have fallen flat on his face.

This close, he could feel how tumultuous her soul was - writhing like a wild thing in a trap - but he couldn't even begin to try and identify anything, being completely unfamiliar with this sort of contact. He could feel all sorts of emotions, ones that weren't his, and they flashed by in a blur - making him dizzy. Trying to interpret the mess would have taken ages, which was time he definitely did not have at this moment.

He didn't have a chance to absorb it, or adjust to the intense sensations and feelings, because they were in the middle of battle and he had to get his shit together or he would end up flying right out of Maka's hands. She rotated his glowing blade once, and it was almost disastrous, the power behind the swing nearly knocking her off balance. Obviously she quickly noted that, and he felt as her stance shifted to a more solid one, and this time ran with him right at the enemy. She planted her feet solidly, and then once in range, swung him hard at the fucking hairball. Soul couldn't help but grin broadly as they made contact, and this time their opponent couldn't just rebuff the slash.

Probably it hadn't hurt him too bad, but the power behind it was enough to knock the pain in the ass back and over the railing of the bridge. It was just lucky they had been close enough to the railing to do so.

As soon as he disappeared from sight, Maka cut their resonance off, severing it sharply like she had brought down a guillotine, and the abrupt dismissal had him reeling nearly as much as the first contact.

Rushing forwards, they peered over the side, looking down into the murky waters. They managed to catch the tail end of his fall, and it seemed he had mistakenly formed a block of ice around his legs. He hit with a splash and plummeted down through the dark water; hopefully to sink to the bottom of the river and stay put long enough for them to get out of dodge. This mission had gone bad, and they needed to report it and skip town, because at their level there was no way they could handle that dude.

Maka dropped Soul, and it took him a second longer than it normally would to realize he had to transform back into a human. He staggered to his feet, still blown away, and sent Maka a searching look, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. She ignored him though, and instead went over to help Tsubaki wake up Black Star – which she did with a well-placed Maka Chop.

As they all hustled to the nearest mirror, Soul couldn't stop thinking about it and sent her side-looks every few seconds. Being smacked upside the head with her soul like that…it was beyond a shock, it was like being hit by a monster truck. The impact left him breathless - leaving him to feel funny and shaky and weird. That much unfettered unfiltered, pure MAKA had made his insides feel odd, mushy and buzzed, warm and fuzzy, electrified and fluffy, and a million other things he couldn't name. It was like being zapped by a lightning bolt, but one he wasn't entirely sure was particularly unpleasant. In fact…a lot of the things he was feeling weren't unpleasant, just very confusing.

He felt closer and more attached to his meister and best friend than anyone else, and had for a long time now. He knew he cared about her a great deal, but _now_ …now, he was wondering if maybe he had a bit of a crush on her or something. It was hard to say really, but whatever it was he was feeling, it was new, a little freaky, a little concerning, and a little intoxicating. He liked it and didn't like it at the same time, mostly because it was confusing as fuck, and maybe because it was so unexpected and sudden.

One thing he did know, he was totally down for exploring it a bit and figuring it out, because it felt like something that could be super cool.

Maka, meanwhile, was not nearly as on board with this new development as Soul, in fact she was quietly having a panic attack.

She let Tsubaki give the report, and they all beat feet back to the Academy. Maka couldn't get back to their apartment and the safety of her bedroom quick enough. She just wanted to bury herself in her covers and pillows and make a cocoon she could stay in for the rest of her life. The feel of Soul's soul against her own was still playing and replaying in her mind, over and over, driving her nuts. It had been absolutely terrifying, and yet at the same time…it had sent a thrill through her that absolutely confirmed all her fears about having feelings for him.

She could only hope that maybe, somehow, Soul hadn't noticed.

Fat chance though.

As expected, as soon as they walked through the door to their shared apartment, Soul rounded on her and gave her a stiff hairy eyeball.

"Maka. What the hell happened out there?"

"Uh…what do you mean?"

He rolled his eyes. "Are you playing dumb, or did you really not feel it?"

"I…I mean we seemed to resonate a lot stronger than usual. Maybe we finally mastered soul resonance?" She tried playing innocent, even attempting to look excited at the "prospect" that they had mastered a skill.

He curled his top lip a little. She could see skepticism in his eyes as he narrowed them and flashed a little fang. "I guess…that would be cool."

She grinned, a fake grin, and tried to lighten her voice. "Yeah, it would be. Uh, you know what though, I'm feeling pretty beat, so I'm gonna take a shower and head to bed. Mind if I steal the bathroom first?"

His eyes softened a bit and he jerked his head in the direction of the bathroom. "Sure, you go ahead. I'm gonna get myself a snack. Night."

"Night, Soul."

As she retreated behind the door of the bathroom, she locked it and then heaved a deep sigh, beyond relieved that he had bought that load of shit. That had been far too close. If he found out about her little shield…she was honestly scared he'd hate her or something. She wouldn't even blame him if he wanted to switch partners. If she were in his shoes and found out her partner had been pulling that kind of stunt, she might be seriously tempted.

Groaning, she stepped into the room and started the shower. As it warmed up, her first priority was getting her gloves off her hands before they stuck. She could see the palms turning pink already, which was a really bad sign. Gritting her teeth, she gripped one and started to slowly peel it back. Sure enough, it stuck, and painfully so.

"Okay…plan B."

Grabbing a pair of small sharp scissors they used to cut bandages out of the cabinet, she slid her fingers into the finger holes of the scissor handles and hissed when that hand cramped with pain. Even so, she eased the scissors under the glove on her other hand and began cutting it away. She did so very gingerly and tried to keep the metal from touching her burned skin. Despite her best efforts, it grazed along the wound, sending a sharp sting up her arm and she gritted her teeth to prevent any outbursts.

Somehow, she managed to use the scissors to cut all the way down through the center of the palm on her glove. Then, putting them aside, she carefully grabbed the cut edge and eased it back slowly, wincing as it tugged on the burn.

"Easy…easy…breathe, Maka…" She reminded herself, taking sharp gulps through her nose.

This was not fun in the least.

Finally she had mostly detached the palm and cut again with the scissors all along the top, severing the whole hand of the glove off and just leaving the fingers, which were also stuck. Her palm was now exposed and Maka grimaced, observing her raw bloody skin - the burns having undoubtedly blistered and popped who knows how many times. It was pretty bad, but at least it was over now. By the end of the battle they were definitely back in sync, so hopefully they would never have to go through that ever again.

There was no way Maka would be caught dead in another room full of candles after this mess. In fact, right then and there she swore off candles entirely.

Flipping her hand over, she threaded her scissors under the backs of the detached fingers of her glove, cutting them. They parted and opened, then went limp and dangled off her fingers, stuck to her burns. The subtle tug on her wounds caused by the light weight of the cloth was bearable, but it was still a bit of a relief to flip her hand back over. Once all five fingers were done she gladly dropped the little torture device known as scissors.

One by one she detached the material from her burns. As soon as everything was off, she puffed a deep breath through her lips and groaned, staring at the mess. Detaching the cloth had made her hand bleed.

She was going to have to sanitize the burns…and she was not looking forward to it in the least. Better to do it as quick as possible she supposed. So, grabbing up a bottle of alcohol, she turned on the faucet of the sink on full blast and flushed the toilet to try and mask whatever sound she was about to make, then poured a large splash over her hand.

She realized she should have put a towel in her mouth to bite, because her cry was definitely louder than the sounds of running water. After the first scream, she cut it off and grabbed a mouthful of her sleeve to clamp her teeth onto, squeezing her eyes shut at the agony running up and down her nerves. It felt like she'd gone and stuck her hand in a vat of acid.

She was interrupted by an abrupt knock on the door.

"Maka! You okay in there?!"

"Shit…" She hissed, and then louder said, "Just fine. I slipped a little on the tile. Sorry." She tried to keep her voice normal despite the pain, but it came out tight anyway.

There was a pause, as if he didn't believe her.

"Really, I'm fine." She tried again, but realized she should probably have just kept her mouth shut because it sounded a little choked and tearful, despite her best efforts.

"…okay. If you're sure." He finally called back, sounding highly doubtful.

Blowing air out of her nose, she waited a moment before continuing. Turning off all the water except the shower, she grabbed up a tube of antibiotic and slathered it thickly on the burns before wrapping them with bandages. Normally, she would have wanted to leave them unwrapped, but she was going to have to use the scissors with that hand now, so she needed some sort of protection.

Grabbing a towel, she rolled it up and bit down on it, knowing she was not going to be as good with cutting this glove off, since she was right hand dominant and she had to cut it off with her left hand. She wasn't even sure she could do it at all since she'd never tried before. But even if it was possible, she could very easily poke herself with the scissors, and she wanted to prevent any accidental outbursts.

Fitting her bandaged fingers through the holes was an exercise in frustration and pain, but eventually she had a shaky hold and slid the scissors under the glove of her right hand. Sure enough, the metal stabbed into her more than once, making her muffle yelps into the towel. She was very glad she'd decided to put it in her mouth. Finally she cut through most of it, and gingerly peeled off the rest, trying to simplify the process as much as possible. She still cut through the backs of the fingers though, which didn't prove nearly as painful since there was no threat of stabbing a burn.

Finally her right hand was free as well, and once again she grabbed up the bottle of alcohol. With the towel still clenched between her teeth, she splashed a healthy dollop over her hand, quickly putting the bottle down and using her left hand fingers to pinch her nose closed as she tried to scream through it. She felt like her eyeballs might pop out of her head at the building pressure for a moment, but then she spat out the towel and gasped in some air, breathing hard and fast.

"…shit,shit,shit,shit,shit,shit…" she groaned, sinking to her haunches while letting her elbow and arm stay up on the counter, dangling her hand over the sink and pressing her forehead into the cabinets underneath.

She stayed there for a long moment, and then eventually stood and slathered some more antibiotic ointment on her right hand before lightly bandaging it. She turned off the shower and very carefully unwrapped her left hand, lightly rewrapping it loosely to try and make sure the bandages didn't stick. Then, she cleaned out her other cuts and scrapes and the one puncture wound and smeared them with antibiotic ointment as well.

Putting everything away and shoving her ruined gloves in her pocket, she gingerly unlocked the door and peeked out. It looked like Soul was still in the kitchen, so she snuck out and tiptoed to her room, sliding in behind her bedroom door before sticking her head out and bellowing, "All done! Bathroom's yours. Goodnight Soul."

She heard a muffled reply and snapped the door closed, locking it for good measure.

She didn't want him to know about her burns. That was totally her fault, and she knew he would feel responsible. Nursing her throbbing hands, she flopped back on the bed, letting a few tears ooze out of the corners of her eyes at the pain. At least it was distracting her from remembering the little soul resonance debacle.

And so, she spent a relatively miserable night not sleeping much.

The next day, Maka refreshed her bandages, which was a highly unpleasant process, and put a fresh pair of gloves over her new, lightly gauzed, hands. With her gloves on, no-one knew that she was injured, and she was able to attend classes normally. Holding a pencil hurt too badly though, so she forwent taking notes for once, a foresight which Soul commented on in their second period.

"Oi, Maka. What's up with you? You're not taking notes like you normally do."

"Oh, I - uh, I forgot a pencil. Silly me."

It was the best excuse she could come up with. As an excuse it was pretty believable, but her delivery left quite a bit to be desired. He just gave her a funny look, but let it go thankfully, sending her suspicious side-eye glances every now and then.

Somehow she made it through all her classes. As soon as she could, she escaped her friends and partner, ditching them when Black Star and Soul were talking animatedly about something. She hustled her butt to the nurse's office, intending to get some burn cream and also ask about something highly disturbing she had experienced that morning. Upon waking up, she had suddenly experienced a coughing fit, and had spat up some black blood - a phenomenon which she could only assume resulted from resonating with Soul. Which, of course, meant that Soul must be infected by it, probably from that wound he had gotten from Crona a while back.

Upon arriving and explaining to their school's nurse Medusa her concerns and injuries, she was asked to remove her gloves so that Medusa could look at her burns.

"Oh my. Those are bad. Second degree at least." The dirty blond clucked her tongue, turning to her cabinets and rustling around. "Here, this cream should help them heal faster. I might have Dr. Stein take a look at them as well if I were you. He may be able to accelerate their healing even faster. Now, as for the black blood, I'll take a blood sample and test you for it. I suspect you'll be fine, so try not to worry okay? And Soul will be fine as well. It may just take some time for him to filter out all the black blood from his fight with Crona."

Maka nodded and held out her arm, relieved that the nurse didn't seem too concerned. As Medusa stuck her with the needle and began pulling blood she conversationally asked, "So, how is Soul doing, speaking of? Still having those nightmares?"

Maka blinked, a bit confused. "Uh…nightmares?"

"Oh. I just assumed he would have told you as his partner. So sorry."

"Oh! Haha, those nightmares! Yeah, of course, he, uh, he told me about those." Maka swiftly covered, her laugh ridiculously fake.

He hadn't in fact told her any such thing. Finding out about it through Medusa – instead of him telling her himself – struck a sore spot in Maka. Why hadn't he told her? Didn't he trust her? She gritted her teeth, hurt by the discovery, but smiled to cover it up in front of the woman currently tending to her wounds.

As soon as Medusa had finished drawing her blood and re-wrapping her wounds, she left and let the smile fall from her face. Really though, what right did she have to get upset at Soul for hiding something from her? With all the secrets she had, she would be downright hypocritical to expect him to tell her every little thing. But still…it bothered her to know that he had been suffering quietly, all alone, and hadn't let her in to help him. Of course, with the current state she was in, she probably wouldn't have been much of a help anyways, and the thought just soured her feelings even more. Her chest squeezed, and felt acidic, as if all those sour thoughts had painfully pricked her heart.

Swallowing thickly, she set off to rejoin the others, stopping by the library to grab a few random books as an excuse as to where she had been. She tucked the books up under her arm, unable to carry them with her hurt hands, and resolved to see Stein first thing, hoping he would be able to patch her up with some sort of fancy shortcut.

* * *

Author's Note:

Howdy. Sorry for being a bit late, but here it is! We're just whizzing through.

I hope everyone enjoyed this latest installment. :)

As always, thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story so far, you are amazing. :D


	6. Chapter 6

The next day, as soon as she had a chance, Maka showed Stein her burns. Sure enough, he was able to speed up the recovery time for them a great deal, though she was left with fine stitch marks on her hands that she knew would scar over and mark where Stein had been, just like Soul's chest. It was fine by her though. After all, she always wore gloves anyways, so it didn't really matter. She'd just have to take to wearing gloves in her normal clothes as well, and stopped by a store on the way home one day to pick up a couple lightweight pairs she could comfortably wear around the house and outside.

Frankly, she was more preoccupied with the other thing Nurse Medusa had said about Soul. For the next several days, Maka played with the idea of asking Soul about these so-called nightmares he'd been having. If he had pestered her about her new glove fashion trend, or how she favored her hands for a good week, she might have gotten pushy and asked. However, since he seemed to respect her space, she found it difficult to invade his and ask about his sleep - or lack there-of.

However, she did begin to stay up a bit later, and paid closer attention to any sounds coming from his room, keeping an eye and ear out for any signs that he was still having trouble sleeping via nightmares. She was concerned about him, worried that they might indicate a more serious condition of some sort, and if he wasn't going to talk about it, she just had to take it upon herself to find out the hard way. Really, she hadn't thought far enough ahead to know what she would do if she did find out he was having nightmares. Assumedly, she would confront him about it at that point, but even then she questioned if that would be the right thing to do.

It was a few days before her efforts were met with any sort of results.

One night, on her way back to her room after using the restroom, she paused and cocked her head while passing his door – sure that she had heard a very soft sound coming from his room. The door was a little ajar, so she figured he wasn't doing anything…inappropriate.

That was a thought which she quickly shoved out of her mind for all eternity - for the sake of her sanity.

Easing up to the door, she peeked in, hoping like hell she wasn't about to see something that would make her regret it. It took a second, but she determined that he seemed to be asleep - soundly asleep in fact - and at first she wondered if she had imagined the sound. But after a moment it came again, sort of a pained grunt, and he tossed his head. As she looked closer, it seemed he had gotten himself tangled up in the blankets even more than usual, and that the sheet was soaked through with sweat. She suddenly realized how that had happened as he twisted, his body straining against the restraints of the sheet, and he thrashed for a short moment, another sound coming from him as he struggled. He quieted again a moment later, looking sound asleep once again.

Maka bit her lip, wondering if she should go in there and untangle him, but figured that would probably wake him up.

She jumped when he thrashed again, seeming even more frantic than before, and his unintelligible muttering suddenly transformed into English, as he cried out, "M-Maka! MAKA! No!" and then he sat bolt upright and grabbed at the air for a second.

She nearly leaped out of her skin, thinking he had seen her, but then he gasped a shuddering breath and groaned, his hands going to his hair and then scrubbing over his face as he grumbled, "Sh-shit…not again…"

At that point Maka snuck away quietly, not wanting to risk getting caught peeping on him while he was sleeping. How would she explain that?

As she went back to her own bed, she couldn't help but wonder what the hell he had been dreaming about that would cause such distress. That hadn't seemed like a nightmare so much as a night terror, and apparently one that had starred her somehow. A bolt of pain stabbed her in the chest, one composed of guilt and sadness upon realizing that even in his sleep, she was somehow fucking things up and hurting him.

She didn't find sleep for a very long time, tortured as she was by what she had seen. When she finally did manage to pass out, it was to bad dreams of her own, filled with Soul getting hurt and/or killed, all because of some mistake Maka made, over and over and over in every different way imaginable.

Needless to say, she didn't sleep well.

Just her luck, the next day in class they were told that midterm exams would be coming up…and that there would be a practical exam involved. A she listened to the announcement in class she masked the horror that dropped her stomach down to her toes with a horrible sinking feeling.

A paper exam Maka could have handled, she'd have aced that sucker with no problem, but a practical exam? That suggested they might have to fight against one of the teachers or something, and that meant they'd have to resonate again…a thought that sent shivers of unease down Maka's back. The first time she could explain away like a fluke, but she knew Soul would know something was up if her shield got broken again. He was already suspicious of her, she could see it clearly in the way he glanced at her sideways from time to time. There was no doubt in her mind that he was skeptical about that load of bull she had fed him after the incident on the ice bridge. Quite honestly, she didn't blame him.

So, she spent the entire week panicking and in the library, doing all the research she could on soul shields and various things like that. Most of the books referenced shields in the form of spells, like what the witches used - such as Soul Protect, a spell that hid them from things like Maka's soul perception abilities. But that information didn't help her all that much. There was achingly little information on any sort of resonance with a shield between the two souls, since such a thing was essentially contradictory to the practice itself. Still, she did her best, trying to figure out how the hell she was going to get through this with her secret intact.

The answer was… she probably wasn't.

Which was why she was not looking forward to school on the day of the midterm exam.

She hadn't slept well the night before, felt like crap from a whole week of constant panic, and had a nasty headache. Still, attendance was absolutely mandatory today - not that she would normally ever skip school for any reason - but if she was going to, today would have been the day.

First there was the written portion, which was easy as cake for her, but proved difficult simply because she had trouble focusing on it. Still, she was sure she had gotten an A at the very least, even if it wasn't her normal A+. But as they all filed out of the class room and made for the indoor auditorium where the practical portion would take place, Maka was tight lipped and trying not to shake, doing her utmost to hide her concern. Really, she and Soul were good enough together that they may even be able to complete this test without ever having to perform resonance, or at least that was what she told herself to try and calm down.

Once in the auditorium/gym they all lined up, and were told they would be fighting one of the teachers… and would be expected to resonate. At that, Maka went cold and seriously considered faking a cough, but then shook herself out of it and snapped back into her normal state of mind. This was ridiculous. She had been maintaining that shield for years now; there was no reason for it to break. She could totally do this and ace the test. She just had to work hard and do her best.

So, when their turn came up she marched forward, ignoring Soul's concerned looks, and stood front and center, facing off with Stein to her distinct displeasure. Soul transformed without a word, seeing Maka wasn't in a talkative mood. She gripped his handle, took a deep breath, and then charged, using every ounce of concentration within her to push herself to the very limit of her capability. She spun Soul smoothly around her body, whipping him up in a quick block as Stein punched with his soul wavelength crackling around his fist. Then without wasting a second, she slid to the side and spun Soul around her back and then over her shoulder to come down on Stein's back as he passed them by. Naturally Stein was too good for that, and dodged the blow easily.

He whirled on his heel to come back at them, aiming for a low blow. If he had connected, both his fists would have landed a harsh blow to her stomach, one which she wasn't sure wouldn't have injured her. She used Soul's hilt in an arch, bashing down on his hands and forcing them off course as she simultaneously also got out of the way. Her theory was confirmed when his hands left a cracked floor behind when they landed.

She didn't have time to stare in shock at the damage that had been aimed at her body though, because his hands had landed on the floor for a reason – not just because she had directed his attack down and away from her. He neatly flipped over, using his hands as a springboard, and landed facing away from her – but behind her. Who struck first was determined by how fast they could turn 180 degrees. Knowing that Stein probably could turn much faster than her, she instead threw herself headfirst into a tumble, landing on her feet some distance away and only then did she turn to face him.

He came at them again, and this time when she blocked him with Soul's blade, he simply punched the scythe with his wavelength, and Maka caught a glimpse of Soul's reflection cringing in pain as the direct soul-to-soul attack actually hurt him. She fell back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah…Stein just has quite a punch…" He coughed, holding his chest. His reflection grinned back up at her reassuringly though. "Don't worry, I can handle it."

She grimaced, hating that Stein had the ability to not just hurt her, but Soul as well…just like Crona. It only took one look at his calculating face to know he was doing it on purpose, to make a point probably.

They traded blows back and forth, Maka forced to the very limit of her power and capabilities as a meister. By this point resonance was necessary for more than just their grade - although that was usually motivation enough for Maka. In this case though, she would have gladly suffered a lower grade than her normal pristine marks, if it would save her having to resonate with Soul. However, given Stein's temperament, he wasn't opposed to seriously injuring either or both of his students, since he had the ability to patch them up just fine afterwards.

He also could easily see their souls and knew if they were truly resonating or not. Not to mention he could probably see her shield…which was a distinctly uncomfortable thought. Knowing him, he would be fully willing to push them both to the limits of their physical endurance, even seriously injuring them, if it forced them to finally resonate. As Stein kicked up the level of his attacks, there was no getting around having to block his attacks with Soul, which she just knew was also part of Stein's plan. The only way to do that while still preventing any injury to her partner was to resonate and strengthen him with her own soul.

Maka was not interested in getting hurt, and even less interested in getting Soul hurt. That extra little push got her to initiate soul resonance with her scythe, who responded instantly to her wordless nudge.

As before, his soul was bigger than she had ever remembered it being and was full of that dark power. This time though, the darkness was way more controlled - as though Soul had been unfamiliar with it last time. Still, Maka was hard-pressed to maintain the resonance and her shield at the same time… and also fight. She was forced to keep her attention on her opponent and less on her shield than she would like, as Stein attacked even harder and faster than before, channeling his soul into his fists in such a way that if even a single blow landed, Maka would probably need surgery to fix the undoubted internal injuries he would create.

The idea of such a thing - being under Stein's knife as he patched up the injuries he had created - sent skitters of fear down Maka's spine. Letting him stitch up her palms was one thing, but he was still a mad scientist and the thought of being unconscious on a surgical table at his mercy left her with chills that would not abate. She grew even more resolved to not let him touch her, putting all her focus in her stance, footwork, moves, and of course how she wielded Soul. She wielded him at such a speed that he was nearly invisible as he danced around her protectively, fending off the dangerous attacks and knocking Stein back just a little. Of course, their professor wasn't using his full power, not by a long shot, but it was still definitely an accomplishment.

Maka could feel her shield cracking under the strain, and with her being thoroughly preoccupied with keeping Stein back, she was unable to bolster it. Stein seemed to only get harder to fend off, as he unquestionably could sense her soul fracturing under the pressure. Her theory was only being proven correct - he was intentionally trying to not only force them to resonate fully, but also break her shield.

She fought both him and the splintering shield for as long as was physically possible, but finally she reached a point where she had to choose: get smacked hard by Stein and undoubtedly badly hurt – possibly even failing the midterm… or let her shield shatter. There was simply no conceivable way for her to maintain both. So, she made the only logical decision, not really given a choice in the matter.

Shifting all her attention to the enemy, she cringed and tried not to focus on the way her barrier cracked, and cracked some more, hanging in there for barely a minute more before it shattered apart under the strain. The distraction caused by their souls coming into full contact once again nearly threw her off her feet.

It was even worse this time, since they were resonating even more strongly now than when they had fought Free. It was closer to true resonance, and so they weren't just in contact, but actually began to mesh together. Soul was there, inside her, in her chest, her heart, her being, her soul. He interlaced with her, becoming so thoroughly entwined that she had trouble distinguishing where he ended and she began, a sensation that truly made her skin crawl with shivers of every kind.

Thankfully the combined power of their interlocked wavelengths sent a blast of power down Soul's blade, transforming it into that huge shining crescent blade that they had used only once before. Maka wasn't about to waste it, even if she was distracted and trying to get over her own and Soul's shock which clogged up her system. It was extra tough since she now not only had her own emotions to contend with, but also all the ones that were being transmitted directly from Soul - all his confusion, shock, and other powerful emotions making it even harder for her to concentrate.

Still, somehow she managed to wield the huge blade, carving it down and through the air to crash into Stein. He fended it off with a hand on either side of the blade, clasped tight. After a tense moment, he managed to disengage, sending her blade into the floor where it carved a deep trench.

Maka flew back a bit from the force, only just managing to land on her feet, and slid back a good ways, staying crouched to keep her balance. And then the resonance broke, neither of them able to keep it up for any longer with the stress it put on them both. Their emotions were too wild, making their souls fluctuate violently and knocking them out of sync with each other.

Thankfully, to Maka's utter relief, it seemed they had passed the test by just doing that one move, and they were allowed to exit the field while their place was taken by another pair.

Soul remained silent, not saying anything at all about the resonance incident - not until they got home at least.

Maka was fully expecting the outburst, and grew more and more anxious as they approached their apartment after school was over, anticipating what was sure to be an utter blow out. Sure enough, as soon as the sound of the door clicking behind them resonated through their living room, Soul was rounding on her, a fierce scowl on his face.

"Okay Maka, spit it out. Just what the hell is going on?"

Briefly, she considered playing stupid, but ultimately decided it would just make things worse. She couldn't think of any way to try and bullshit her way out of this one, so the best policy would just be to come clean and hope like hell that Soul wouldn't dump her as a partner.

Clearing her throat and clasping her hands tightly in front of her to prevent them from shaking, she gathered her courage and said, "Um. I…I've been putting up a shield…"

His lips curled in a snarl, his cool-guy, disinterested expression totally gone by now. "A _shield_? What sort of shield?"

"Between you and me. Between our souls when we sync."

"What?! How the fuck does that even work? How are we even able to synchronize our souls and work as partners at all if you've been shielding your soul! I mean, I've been able to sense you…" He seemed both pissed and confused now, and Maka didn't blame him in the least.

"Well…it's a thin shield. We can sense each other just enough to sync up and fight together…but…it does sort of get in the way of resonance…" The last bit was said a little softer, her voice laden with guilt as she admitted how she had been hampering them.

Soul imploded, his voice rising in volume until he was shouting. "What the hell Maka! Why the fuck have you been…wait…you've been doing this from the get-go! From the very beginning you were…you were downright lying!"

She winced. She deserved every bit of this, but didn't enjoy it in the least.

Forcing herself to remain silent, she took it, and he continued to bombast her, seeming to be in a full-on raging lecture mode, something she herself had done to him many a time, but which he did rarely, if ever.

"Seriously! You'd better have a good explanation for this Maka, because I don't understand why you've been…and…you…" He stuttered a bit, seeming to be too mad to hold a consistent sentence. "How the hell did we even get so close to turning me into a Death Scythe with you shielding yourself?!"

She shrugged. "We learned to adapt, and we're lucky enough to both be very talented and naturally compatible. But it's held us back considerably…I know that. "

With a growl he rubbed his fingers aggressively through his hair, making it stand up even more than usual and then started shouting again, though the volume had gone down just a little. "Shit! I've known we could do better; no wonder we kept fucking things up!" And then he seemed to suddenly get even angrier. "And it's why you've been getting yourself hurt so fucking much isn't it?!"

Maka cringed. "You're right. I'm also the reason you got so badly hurt."

There was deep silence after that, as Soul seemed at a loss for words for a long moment.

"Well, Crona would have kicked our asses anyways." He grumbled, seeming to be trying to comfort her even though he was still obviously enraged.

Dismissing that line of the conversation, he continued the previous. "Never mind that! I'm pissed that you've been throwing yourself at kishin eggs with this damn…fucking…HANDYCAP! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"

Maka jumped a little at the sudden rise in volume again, and then winced.

"You could have gotten yourself killed! Like, a thousand times over! What the hell is wrong with your head MAKA?!"

Suddenly Maka couldn't put up with being yelled at anymore, and before she knew she was going to do it, she shrieked, "BECAUSE I WAS SCARED OKAY?!"

Once again there was silence.

Soul's eyebrow twitched spastically, though it seemed he had forced his face back into a slightly stiff version of his normal mask of indifference. His eyes were tight with confusion, anger, and a bit of concern, and he gritted his teeth, seeming to be trying to wrestle himself back under control.

When he finally spoke, he was no longer yelling and his voice sounded relatively normal, if a little tight. "Okay. Then explain it to me. Please."

There was no way she could deny his request, and so with a deep, heartrending sigh, she plopped down in a kitchen chair, putting her face in her hands and trying to figure out where to start from. She heard the scrape of another chair being pulled out and then the creak of Soul sitting.

She opened her eyes to see him staring expectantly at her, waiting for her to explain why she had done this horrible thing. With another sigh, she started. "I…I'm so sorry. I never wanted to put you, or me, in danger. It just…it ended up being a side effect. By then, there wasn't anything I could think of to…" Her words trailed off into nothing as she reached a dead end. Groaning, she realized she wasn't doing a good job of explaining.

So she started over again. Taking another fortifying deep breath, she scrubbed her hands over her face and tried a second attempt. "Like I said, I was scared. The first time we tried to sync souls, it was too…it was really…it's…look, our souls touching each other freaks me out okay? It's even worse with resonance. That's almost like our souls are combining or something. It's too close. Too…intimate."

She frowned, flushing at the implications of that word, and looked at the wood of their table. "I can't handle that. Closeness like that…it's too much for me."

"Why?"

She jumped a little at the question, and glanced back up at Soul to see his brow furrowed, looking more confused and concerned now than angry.

Gulping she tried to explain. "It's probably because of my dad. I mean, you know the story. Growing up…he snuck out a lot, cheated on my mom with I don't know how many women. They would _**scream**_ at each other, and say _horrible_ things…and…I could see how much it hurt Mom. She would cry herself to sleep at night, never in front of me, but I could _hear_ her sobbing. But he never stopped, couldn't seem to stop, even though he said he loved her…loved us. And then they got divorced, and Mom disappeared, leaving me with _him._ "

Taking a deep breath and clearing her throat, she continued. "I saw how marriage ended up for them. It didn't seem to bring any kind of happiness, just pain, and I guess that stuck around in my head in all kinds of different ways. I'm… scared of making that kind of commitment. I know our partnership isn't anything like marriage really, but…the soul thing…it just, sort of triggered that fear. Like I said, it was too intimate, too much like…I dunno, just…maybe it's a trust thing. I mean, I trust you with my life…but, I guess there's a different kind of trust with that or something? I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but that's the best I can do to try and explain it."

Maka knew the explanation had been all kinds of convoluted, and probably made no sense to Soul, but she honestly couldn't think of how to properly describe the deep, soul rending terror that sparked within her at that connection between their souls.

Almost without realizing it, she mumbled, "I just can't bear to let anyone get that close…"

There was a long silence after her confession.

Finally, Soul sighed and she glanced at him to see that he no longer looked mad at all, or really all that confused anymore surprisingly. Mostly he just looked tired and a bit sad, as well as concerned.

"Well…shit." He sighed, wiping a hand over his face, and then he grimaced. "Look, I get what you're saying. But…you know you're gonna have to get over this fear of yours, because we have to learn how to resonate with each other and stuff. Otherwise it's stupid for you to go out there and fight, cause you're gonna get killed."

Maka flinched, the blunt statement dead-on. It was true. There was no doubt that they would be unable to take on any higher leveled missions with the way things were now. Not only had she been endangering herself, but Soul as well.

"I know…" She whispered, feeling something within her twist uncomfortably.

He nodded. "Good. Cause I ain't gonna have my meister dying on me. Understand?"

She gave Soul a small grin, touched by the slightly gruff statement. "Yeah. Thanks Soul."

He grinned back at her. "S'my job ya know."

Chuckling, she finally collected herself enough to realize that her stomach was growling painfully, expressing its displeasure in a loud manner.

So, she got up and started making something for dinner, and they ate, talking and surprisingly going back to normal pretty quickly. She wouldn't have expected to be forgiven so easily. In fact, she had thought he would break off their partnership, but in the aftermath, she ended up kicking herself for having such little faith in Soul. On the backside, she realized that there was never any chance of him leaving her, it just wasn't Soul.

She managed to fend him off when he suggested they try syncing after dinner, pleading exhaustion. The excuse also allowed her to tuck in early, hiding in her bedroom, which was perfect for doing some research. Pouring over some books she had rented from the library, she looked up hiding things while resonating with a partner. It was impossible for her to have a shield, that she knew, but with all these new emotions she now had for Soul, she had to find a way to hide them while still resonating.

She found a few methods, the easiest one being to simply construct a structure within a person's soul-space, which you could then place any memories or emotions you wanted to hide from your partner. It sounded simple enough, and so Maka retreated to her own soul-space, a library with a glass ceiling and grass floor. The sky she could see through the transparent ceiling usually portrayed her mood, and currently dark clouds were blowing past, remnants of the fight she'd just had with Soul.

Glancing around, she found a secluded corner in the back, and there she made herself a Soul-proof box, one that she put her crush and any inappropriate thoughts about him into. Everything else she figured should be fair game, as uncomfortable a thought as it was, but she owed him that much after tricking him for so long.

But there was no way she was going to let him run into her crush…there was a high potential that _that_ would hurt their partnership far more than him finding out about the shield.

There was no way for her to know that Soul already had a Maka-proof room, full of his childhood memories and new-found feelings for her - which he still hadn't quite figured out yet. It was hidden behind one of the red curtains draping the walls of his soul space. The place had changed somewhat since that little devil had taken residence there. It had grown darker, lit by strange glowing blue candles that emitted insanity.

As usual, the damn thing was pestering him, trying to drive him mad by talking about Maka, and how she could do something like that when he had trusted her so implicitly. For what felt like the millionth time, he found himself sitting in his slightly beat-up comfortable black recliner, but one which he shifted at will to a more impressive sleek black office chair for a bit more authority. It was where he parked himself during these long and tedious arguments with his demon.

"She lied to you Soul."

"Yeah…and?"

"And …you're just going to forgive her?"

"Yes." He stated firmly, wishing the thing would just give up already.

"She used you. Tricked you. Lied to you. How can you still work with her?"

"Easy. She's my best friend."

"Oh but she's so much more than that isn't she?"

"That topic is off limits and you know it." Soul growled, leaning forwards in a menacing manner.

"Alright, alright, no need to get testy." The creepy little bugger easily backed off, putting his hands up in a placating manner. Then he started up again, using a different tactic. "But, you know, she has exposed a weakness now…we could use that and…"

Soul cut him off. "Look. I agreed to use your power, which I know lets you infect me more – don't think I'm so stupid as to not notice. But that's it. Besides that, no matter what you say, you cannot and will not turn me against Maka, so you're wasting your time."

The creature heaved a sigh and shrugged. "Oh well, it's your loss. If you ever need ideas or -"

"I don't."

Shutting the thing down, he was finally able to get some sleep, although it was fitful and full of nightmares. As usual.

* * *

Author's Note:

Hello! Sorry about not updating last week. Things have been rather hectic lately. I may occasionally go two weeks instead of one, but I will try my best to keep it to every weekend as much as possible.

Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed the latest installment. :D

And also, a big thanks to everyone who has already reviewed this story, you are all awesome.


	7. Chapter 7

Predictably, as soon as they got home the next day, Soul was on top of her, pestering her to try resonating with him.

It was a rather odd situation for Maka, being on the other end of the nagging for once. Usually being a mother hen was her MO, since she was always on Soul to get up on time, eat a healthy breakfast, show up to class on time, and everything else she was always pestering him about. So for him to be the one now pestering her was a rather odd experience. Normally he was so laid-back, pretty much okay with just about anything, that seeing him on the warpath was just a little freaky.

She knew that he was only this serious because not learning how to resonate would undoubtedly end up with her getting injured, an activity which he tried to prevent in a very active manner. He was the most protective person she knew, at least when it came to her safety. That wasn't anything new by any means, however unfortunately it triggered some doubts that she had been harboring since the Crona incident.

For the first time in their partnership, she was not happy about how meister/weapon relationships worked. The entirety of their partnership, she had been more than satisfied, because as the meister she took the brunt of the damage and risk. The only problem with the arrangement though, was that Soul's role to play in their partnership was to protect her – technically even at the cost of his own life. Since he always stayed in weapon form during battle – which was close to indestructible – this little clause hadn't ever been a problem. But ever since he popped out of weapon form and took the blow that was meant for her when they battled Crona, it had hit her just how cruel a rule it was. What was even worse, she just couldn't quite help this niggling little worry in the back of her mind that the primary reason he did such a drastic and stupid thing was because of that rule.

This incredibly irritating crush of hers had obviously scrambled her brains and caused her to worry over irrational thoughts she hadn't ever entertained before. She _knew_ protective instincts like his didn't just come from a sense of duty. To even consider that he had gotten himself nearly killed simply because it was in his job description was shockingly stupid. She had always believed that they possessed a bond, one which drove him to protect her - and her to win so he wouldn't end up getting hurt. So why now? Why were such senseless ideas torturing her now? Would this crush never stop messing with her head?

This had been going on for close to two months now, but she'd thought that she had gotten better with these particular worries lately. However, with him acting so overprotective, those emotions from when he got hurt were triggered again, and that just made her even more wired. This was not good – not at all – because she was already wired enough as it was, just from the insane amount of stress that she was currently under. Being pressured into doing something that was absolutely terrifying to her did not make for a happy, relaxed, or peaceful state of mind.

So, it wasn't a surprise when her extra emotional charge translated into irritation, and she became moody Maka. Soul hardly seemed shocked when she fought back against his nagging. She tried complaining that she didn't want to try to sync her soul to his today, that she had to study, that she was tired and had a headache, and a million other excuses which seemed to fall on deaf ears.

He was persistent, pestering her nonstop as she fended him off with excuse after excuse, first by making dinner, then complaining of a stomach ache – and yet nothing seemed to deter him.

"Maka…we talked about this remember? We've gotta do this so that you'll stop going out there and getting all beat up in the field. We can't work together properly without a good soul-bond."

Finally, she grew fed-up.

"What's the big deal anyways?! What does it matter if I get myself hurt? I'm the meister, it's in the job description! You're being so annoying! I know protecting me is what you're _supposed_ to do, but just give it a rest already!" The words coming out of her mouth were beyond stupid and ridiculous – not to mention hurtful – and she instantly regretted them.

Soul looked absolutely shocked, his mouth open a little as he gaped at her. Once he had collected himself a little, his eyes narrowed and his lips pursed, and if she hadn't known him as well as she did she would have missed the hurt look passing through his eyes. The sight of it had guilt once again settling into her stomach like a heavy stone.

As for Soul, he was not a happy camper by any means. Yes, he was hurt by the dumb insinuation. He had thought that she would know by now why he was so adamant about protecting her. But apparently she, for some reason, needed him to spell it out for her.

"Well, yeah, I swore an oath as your weapon to protect you, and cool guys never go back on their word, but-"

She flinched and turned away, looking like she was almost getting ready to go lock herself in her room or something. Not letting him finish what he was planning on saying, she muttered. "That's stupid. I don't want you protecting me just because it's part of your job. You'll end up getting yourself hurt again…and for what? I hate that rule."

That confused him. She was obviously deeply hurt by what he'd said, which made no sense since he had always thought she was cool with their partner relationship. She had known from the get-go how a weapon and meister relationship was set up, and she hadn't ever complained about it till now. Still, while he was cool with the arrangement, it was way more than that. The thought that she believed he was only concerned about her wellbeing because it was what he was technically supposed to do according to some rulebook somewhere…it bothered him more than he'd like to admit.

So, without really deciding to do it, he spat out, "Damn it, Maka! I thought you were smart enough to know that it's way more than that!"

She paused and then slowly turned back around, pinning him in place with her green eyes. "Way more than what?"

Gulping, because this was going into touchy feely talking territory, a place he was distinctly uncomfortable with, he cleared his throat and managed to force out, "More than rules and shit. I don't just protect you cause it's what I'm supposed to do. Thought you'd know that by now."

"Then why do you?" She asked softly, a hint of vulnerability in her voice and gaze which he hadn't seen before.

This seemed to really be bugging her for some reason. He wasn't entirely surprised. After all, sometimes Maka would get a stupid worry stuck in her head and would end up freaking out about it for months and months, until it turned into a big thing.

"You know I'm not good at talking about this stuff…" He mumbled, wincing a bit and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I know, but…please?" She asked, so nicely and with such a soft tone, that he was helpless to deny her.

Blowing a hard exhale out of his pursed lips, he sucked the air back in around his sharp teeth, looking at the ceiling and raising his hand from the back of his neck to run through his white hair, tugging at the ends a little. "Shit…I…it's a lot of things, I mean…for one, you're my best friend…and my roommate…and I… uh, care a lot about you…I mean, I'd rather die than see you get hurt…" He grimaced, unable to believe all that stuff just came from him.

He was freaked by it all, and when he risked a glance at her she looked pretty freaked out too, her eyes wide and her hand over her mouth. There was an incredibly long silence, full of weird tension that had Soul scratching at his scalp with his blunt fingernails and tugging on his hair some more, at a loss of what to do now.

Finally, Maka took a deep breath and said, "Yeah. I knew all that…and I feel the same way." Then with a swift exhale she rolled her eyes and admitted, "To be honest, I've been thinking about it since Crona got you. Seeing you hurt so badly because of me, I just…it freaked me out. And now with this whole mess and the stress of it all, I kind of exploded. Sorry."

He huffed, clearing his throat a bit and putting up his normal façade of disinterest to hide his still crazy emotions. "Stupid, Maka. We're partners. You get hurt all the time, and I hate it, but I accept it as part of your job. You gotta accept that I might get hurt too. Not getting hurt is gonna require us getting stronger … and resonating."

"I know that!" She said, sounding slightly ticked off again as she sent him a sharp glance.

Shrugging, he stayed quiet. There was another long awkward silence, and then finally he risked pointing out, "Of course, if we wanna do that, we've gotta get used to working together without that damn shield."

Maka, meanwhile, knew he was right, and had known he was right from the start. She just hadn't really wanted to take that step today. But after this little blow-up, it was obvious they had to go ahead and do it, otherwise it was going to mess up their partnership.

"Yeah…" She sighed. "I know, but can we cool off for a bit first? I don't wanna try right after having an argument."

He shrugged again. "Sure. Wanna watch a movie or something and try after that?"

Relieved he was going to give her at least a short respite, she nodded, and while Soul picked out a movie, she popped some popcorn as a peace offering. He accepted wordlessly, just starting up the movie and parking his butt on one side of the couch. They settled the popcorn bowl between them and shared it, watching some sort of action video that Soul had recently picked up. Maka didn't catch much of the plot - still being all tense and worried about what was going to happen as soon as it was over - but at least it helped her to get a little less wired.

After the relatively long movie, Maka was ready to try, mainly to just get it over with.

Soul sent her a look, moving the empty popcorn bowl to the table and shifting to sit cross-legged facing her. He seemed to expect her to protest, and almost appeared somewhat surprised when she wordlessly shifted to match him, facing him at her end of the couch.

"What…no complaints about a sore stomach or anything?" He teased.

"Look, I just wanna get this over with."

"Okay, okay. Sure."

"Let's just try syncing with each other okay? Just to start with?" She wasn't sure she was ready to tackle resonance yet, not when she hadn't even gotten used to synchronizing their souls without her shield before.

"Sounds good."

So, they closed their eyes and both focused on their soul wavelengths, attempting to matching them and synchronize the way they did when Maka wielded him normally. Her shield instantly popped into place out of habit.

"Maka…your shield is up isn't it?"

She winced. "Yeah."

"Well…take it down!"

"It's not that easy Soul! Give me a minute!"

He grumbled, and she started working on the shield, trying to get it to go away, but it was incredibly difficult. Soul lost his patience pretty quickly with her fumbling to try and bring the wall down between their souls, and he attempted to take matters into his own hand. His soul's wavelength increased exponentially and tried to just barge right through. If synchronization was likened to dancing, Soul had just taken the lead by force and was practically pile-driving through her.

Maka felt the pressure as he shoved heavily against her shield and panicked, her soul going haywire and breaking any sort of sync between them. "Soul! Don't do that! There's no way I can bring the shield down if you push me! It'll only make it thicker and stronger to keep you out!" She protested – loudly – her breath coming fast and her heart pounding out of control, symptoms of an impending freak out.

Soul's eyes went wide, all irritation and impatience bleeding out instantly. "Woah! Okay, I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I promise."

It took a few moments for Maka to calm down enough to try again.

This time, Soul stuck to his word, just waiting patiently while she worked on removing the shield. It took a while, but eventually she managed to relax enough that the defense dropped out from between them, letting their souls come into contact. They both jumped a bit at the feeling.

It was different from the other two times. Those had been in battle situations, where most of their concentration had been preoccupied with not getting hurt or killed – not to mention of course that it they had been resonating, not just synchronizing their wavelengths. Synchronizing meant they matched their soul wavelengths to each other, so that they would be perfectly compatible – which was utterly necessary for wielding. They had done it a million times while fighting together…but that had been when she had her shield up. Without the shield, they could feel each other's souls, due to the fact that they were using the same wavelength.

It wasn't nearly as intense as when her shield had been shattered. They had been resonating during those battles, not just synchronizing, and so the contact had been much more involved, as if they were melting together. This time, since they weren't resonating, their souls stayed as separate individual beings… they were just individual beings that were in contact with each other in a very intimate way. As before, she couldn't help but equate it with a naked friendly hug – or at the very least a conversation held while both were naked.

Still, even though technically it was much less intimate than full-on resonance, this experience was almost more intimidating than the previous two times. This time, they could focus all their attention on the other person, and Maka instantly felt Soul… in a whole new way.

She got a few fleeting emotions that she knew were from Soul, probably the strongest ones he was experiencing - shock, surprise, curiosity were the top few. Those were the ones that he was accidentally projecting across their shared wavelength – much like a radio wave. She probably felt much the same way except with a good dose of fear and uncertainty.

Once she got over the initial shock though, things got a little more awkward. This soul to soul contact was super intimate. Even worse, getting to sense Soul's very being so close to hers…it made all those fluffy, fuzzy, warm, irritating feelings flare up, and suddenly she had to break it off to shove them all into her anti-Soul box and hide them. There was no way she was going to let Soul have even the littlest whiff of her crush on him.

She had no idea that Soul had already dealt with his mess of confusing emotions in the same way.

Just like her, at the first soul-to-soul contact he had experienced all kinds of fluttery, stupid, warm, melty emotions that made him think he was definitely getting a crush on his meister. That was a thought that he wasn't entirely sure what to do with, because he had no idea if that sort of thing was even feasible. Would he want to be with Maka like _that_? Did he want a relationship? Would _she_ want one? Was there any chance in hell she might like him back? Fuck - was a relationship even _allowed_ between a meister and weapon who were partnered? Wait…her parents did it, so it was probably allowed…right? That didn't necessarily mean it was encouraged though.

That whole mess of confusion was systematically shoved into his mental closet to deal with at a much later date and also to keep it away from Maka. That would be the last thing she'd want to come across during this already tough exercise. Soul could already picture how that would go down…with her probably refusing to ever try synchronizing with him again. So he put a lid on it, locking it up tight, and throwing away the key for now. He had no desire to address that situation any time soon.

Maka meanwhile had finished shoving everything away, and was ready to try again, taking a few deep breaths to center herself.

Thinking back on the experience…it hadn't been that bad really. So, this time around she went it a little more confidant, dropping her shield right away as they connected soul to soul again. She still flinched a bit at first contact, but then relaxed, trying to just focus on holding the synchronization and matching her soul wavelength to his as best she could to make it a smooth connection.

It was awkward and still too intimate, the same way seeing or touching Soul while either he or she were unclothed would be, but it wasn't…bad exactly. It was just…Soul. And her. Touching.

Slowly, very slowly, she began to relax little by little, letting herself feel a bit more of him - as if they were in a sleeping bag and she had been all curled up into a little ball, but now allowed herself to stretch out and feel his foot touch hers or something. He seemed to have adjusted pretty well. She was no longer getting those sharp flashes of shock that she had first felt coming from him. Now it was mostly curiosity and intrigue, as if he was interested in this little experiment even more now.

When she opened her eyes, to look at his soul, she was a bit interested to see that his glowing core was pulsing lightly, as if to some rhythm only he could hear. When she concentrated on the gentle contact between their souls, she could feel it too … sort of like a heartbeat.

Without speaking aloud, she thought to herself, _"Why is his soul pulsing like that?"_

He jerked. "Wha'? Did you just say something, Maka?"

She blinked, realizing he must have somehow picked up on her mental question. "Well…I thought of a question, but I didn't say it out loud."

He blinked, looking surprised, and then grinned. "That's cool. So maybe we can talk mind to mind?"

"Probably more like soul to soul." Maka corrected absentmindedly, already thinking about how convenient that would be in a battle situation. No wonder the advanced weapon/meister partners always seemed to know exactly what the other was going to do. Their souls weren't just in sync; they could actually speak to each other without words. It also meant she'd have to be careful about what she was thinking about - no need to send any strong thoughts his way about her crush on him.

After another moment, Soul said mumbled something softly – so much so that she was sure he was mostly talking to himself. "Hey Maka, your soul sounds…pretty cool."

She blinked. "How so?"

"It's just…before, when your shield was up, I sort of heard it like…like music through a wall. Now though, it's much clearer, still soft probably cause we're not fully resonating, but yeah. It's cool." To her surprise he actually flushed a little and averted his eyes, and the feel of his soul against hers grew warmer and softer, conforming to her own more. It was…nice actually.

Once she got over that first kick of fear, she realized it was pleasant. Warm. Friendly. Comfortable. Because it was Soul, the one person in the whole world that Maka cared about and trusted more than anyone else. She already knew him, practically inside and out, and now…it was just confirming what she had previously seen and experienced. It was like sinking into your favorite warm blanket, the one you've had for years and smells like you and your favorite things, like books and food and whatever else it came into contact with. Soul was like that, so comfortable, so warm, so familiar and…loving. It made Maka wonder just what she had been so scared of anyways.

But then it started to get too comfortable, too nice, and Maka realized she wanted to sink further into him, way too much. It was getting out of hand and those locks on her little Anti-Soul box were growing loose with all the emotions she was experiencing. Soul also seemed a tad uncomfortable, and so they agreed to break it off and leave it there for tonight.

For the next few days they kept practicing, and each time it grew just a little easier and just a little less scary for Maka, and a little less awkward for them both. Soon enough they both got relatively comfortable with it, though it was still slightly awkward for Maka, but that probably wasn't going to go away for a while since it was so new.

But still, with their new-found confidence, eventually the night came when Soul brought up the thing Maka had known was coming, and had been dreading.

"So…Maka? You think you're ready to try practicing soul resonance yet?" He asked after dinner, and her meal instantly flipped upside down in her stomach and gave her a mild belly ache.

Grimacing, she took a deep breath and grumbled, "…no. But, I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Good enough for me."

Soul grinned and promptly dragged her into the living room to get this thing underway instantly – probably because he was worried she would back out if he gave her a chance. Which was true.

"So…how do you wanna do this thing?" Soul asked as they stood eyeing each other across the coffee table.

"Well, probably we should start with you in human form. As a weapon you may destroy the apartment if we attempt soul resonance."

"Yeah, probably."

They parked themselves once again on the couch facing each other as they had the first time they tried synchronization, and initiated a soul sync - which they had taken to keeping up as much as possible, even during normal daily activities. They both settled into the connection, getting comfortable with the friendly soul hug – as she had taken to calling it in her mind. Soul could feel Maka's wavelength trembling with nerves, and he sent her a little encouraging nudge.

She nodded, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

"Okay…soul resonance."

She matched her wavelength to his and he did the same, until they began to synchronize even more than before. It took some time to truly mirror each other's wavelength and vibrate at exactly the same frequency without any variances, but eventually they clicked into perfect harmony and their souls began to resonate. It was almost like a build-up of electricity between their souls as the vibrations increased. That electric energy seemed to magnetize them and draw them closer together…and then closer…and closer still. They had already been in contact with each other, but what she had been calling a hug turned out to be more like a handshake compared to resonance. She had thought their souls were rubbing up against each other before, but that was nothing compared to being plastered up against Soul's soul so tightly.

At feeling him so close, and still getting closer, Maka freaked, and even Soul shied away a little. The connection was broken as they both reeled back their souls and shut themselves off for a moment.

"Erp…." Was the first non-word that popped out of Maka's normally verbose mouth.

Soul stared, and then snorted. "Okay, yeah, well…. That was…interesting."

"Sure…."

After a short breather, they attempted again, much to Maka's displeasure.

Once again they focused on each other, and only each other, and started synchronizing their souls' wavelengths until they found just the right frequency again. The connection crackled and sparked between them, drawing them together. This time they didn't back out of it half-way though, and Maka got a more and more intimate feel of Soul.

That magnetic pull brought their souls closer and closer together, until Maka could feel every little nuance of him against her – his heartbeat, his breathing, his thoughts…even the gurgles in his digesting stomach. And yet they still weren't fully resonating, their souls hadn't completely meshed with each other. They were like two songs almost in perfect harmony but just a half-beat out of sequence with each other. Still though, it was insanely intimate, and Maka knew Soul could feel every little shot of terror that set her nerves on fire. He probably even heard the random thought that their little friendly naked soul hug had turned into friendly naked soul sex.

That was almost what if felt like though, as if he was in her and she was in him, in the most intimate, soul-deep way possible.

Once again, the connection was broken as they cringed away from each other (possibly due to her inappropriate thought) and their souls got out of sync.

It took a few goes before they really solidly connected and managed to hold it. And with such a close connection, they could each feel what the other was thinking and feeling about the experience. Maka felt how Soul was at first shocked by it the first few tries. Then that shock slowly wore off, though a sense of awe remained – an emotion related to shock. She could sense that it was awkward for him, and that he wasn't entirely comfortable with it, but that it didn't really bother him too much. If anything he quickly seemed to grow to like it.

At the same time, she knew Soul could feel every little ounce of anxiousness, discomfort, fear, and awkwardness Maka had for the experience. The fear ramped up quickly, and it wasn't long before she reached a breaking point and cut off the connection once again. She left the soul synchronization active though, and so probably Soul could still vaguely feel how freaked out she was through that.

Maka was at her wits end. It was just too intimate for her, way too much. She couldn't handle it.

She was approaching a full-on Maka freak out - wondering if maybe this was just impossible for her - when Soul managed to snap her out of her thoughts.

"Hey, Maka, chill alright? It's just me remember? You trust me right?"

At the question, she looked into his eyes and asked herself, did she trust Soul? The answer was instantaneous, and solid. Yes, she did trust him, implicitly. And if she trusted him with her life, then she should be able to trust him with her soul too right? The answer was wordless, as her heart answered for her with a blanket of that particular emotion, which calmed some of her nerves.

The sudden swell of trust leaked through their connection, which she allowed. It was her answer to a question he had asked after all. In response she got a surge of the same sort of trust, returned through that very same bond she had just shared with him. He had grown the emotion though, by combining it with some warm friendly feelings as well. She was shocked that he had done so, given that this was Soul - the notoriously cool guy who didn't like mushy emotions. But apparently that didn't necessarily translate to this form of communication, as much as it did when talking.

But - touched that he was trusting her in return and had made himself vulnerable with that sharing - she chose to respond in like. They traded emotions back and forth, each time their bond growing stronger and soothing each other, until finally they almost naturally slid into a resonance brought about by their emotions.

The resonance sparked fear within Maka again, as before, and she attempted to hide it from Soul - which was an effort in futility. Aside from her anti-soul lock box, everything about her was laid bare for Soul to see, and so he could feel her fears as if they were his own.

Though that soul-deep connection he whispered to her, _"Stop trying to hide it already. It's okay to be afraid."_

Something within her started to ease…a little ball of tension that ever so slowly began to unravel. It was the ball that her fear had curled into, so dense and heavy that it had been weighing her down. But with Soul's words, she gave herself permission to relax it and let it be what it was… fear. She stopped trying to hide the emotion and let it be.

Normally the feel of Maka's fear would have made Soul cringe - a knowledge that Maka suddenly knew since she could feel it within him - but feeling this fear wasn't making him recoil. He could feel that she wasn't afraid of him, and that he wasn't causing the fear. If anything, he could sense that her letting him see it - in all its raw self - was her trusting him. It took an immense amount of trust to let him see her most vulnerable side, all her fears and weaknesses she had been carrying for so long.

She trusted him to see her at her most vulnerable, to see her falling into that black pit and catch her. With this soul-to-soul melding, instead of sinking into that deep hole of despair and fears like she normally did, Soul plucked her out and filled her with warmth instead of cold darkness. That fear never went away, but with him by her side she could look at it and acknowledge its existence, but not get sucked into it.

It was an intense experience, for both of them.

They held the resonance for a long moment, longer than ever before, and both of their souls began to glow brighter, resonating and harmonizing with each other in a beautiful manner. Probably, if she had been wielding him, they could have used Witch Hunter - which Stein had explained was the first Scythe Master Technique that she had used briefly during the midterm exams and on the Wolfman.

Still, there was only so much she could take, and after a while of holding it, their souls broke apart once again. They had unconsciously grown physically closer as they resonated until they were sitting close enough for Soul to reach out and grab Maka as she teetered, nearly falling off the couch. The drain on her was immense, mostly emotional in nature but also somewhat physically as well. And she wasn't the only one to experience the exhaustion either. Working like this with one's soul could cause an immense physical drain as well as a depletion of the soul itself. They would have to practice to strengthen both.

But it had been particularly bad for Maka since she had been so terrified. So she found herself trembling faintly and feeling weak after, which is what caused the slight unsteadiness. Soul, being as overprotective as usual - if not more so - wrapped himself around her to keep her from falling.

It was a little awkward for both of them, especially after having had such an intense connection. So they separated relatively quickly, despite the fact that Maka really just wanted to sink into the embrace and stay there forever as she got herself back together. But it was just those kinds of thoughts that frightened her, and so she drew back and cleared her throat.

They both decided that was enough for one day.

* * *

Author's Note:

And there you have it. :D

Soul and Maka first proper resonance! Woohoo! I'm eager to hear what you all thought of it. ;)

As always, a big thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! You're all awesome!


	8. Chapter 8

They didn't try resonating again after that, though they planned to. But it seemed like things kept getting in the way… or maybe that was just Maka making excuses.

A few weeks passed, and before long they found themselves attending the annual party celebrating the founding of Death Academy. It was a big deal, and Kid had made sure they knew to dress appropriately. So, Maka had spent extra time picking out an outfit, though that was made somewhat difficult by her own closet. She didn't exactly have a large wardrobe to be honest. To go on a job or to class she wore her normal outfit, a red plaid skirt, white button down covered by a cream sweater vest, and a green tie. She had three sets of that outfit and did laundry once a week. Outside of that, she had her comfortable clothes which consisted of several baggy sweatpants, a few shorts, some t-shirts, and some hoodies and jackets to choose from, but no formal wear.

So, she had to go shopping and thusly tagged along with Tsubaki on an expedition to find outfits. The boys came too, and they all headed to the Death City Mall, which would give the boys some stores to occupy themselves with while the girls did their clothes shopping. They split up, and Tsubaki lead Maka to her favorite store. The ninja weapon had a good sense of style, so Maka hoped she could get a few tips. For some reason, she had an unexplainable desire to look really good for this party…and absolutely refused to acknowledge that it might just have the ever so slightest bit to do with her new interest in Soul. Nope. Nothing at all.

The store Tsubaki picked out was reasonably priced, but had really cute items, and she began browsing the shelves, racks, and tables for her own outfit. Maka stood there…lost for a moment, but followed suite and began to hesitantly peruse the shelves. It wasn't like she didn't know how to clothes shop, but she hadn't ever done it with a girlfriend before, and it made her feel a little like a fish out of water.

Soon though, she found that it could be fun as Tsubaki began to laugh and held up some sort of ridiculous poufy pink dress that would look super cute on a Lolita type girl, but on her tall frame looked entirely out of place. Maka couldn't help but laugh right along and soon she was relaxing and enjoying herself. Before long, they had both picked out a handful of options and headed to the dressing rooms to try them on together. They had seen each other undressed plenty in the girl's locker room and gym showers at school, and so they didn't think anything of taking a large dressing room and sharing it.

Both girls stripped and started trying on their chosen outfits, while chatting and laughing at wardrobe malfunctions along the way. Tsubaki called attention to a humorous muffin top issue she had run into with a too tight pair of pants that she had been trying, and Maka did the same with a dress that had chest made for someone with D-cup breasts.

After a bit, they slowly settled on their choices, helping each other decide which ones looked best. Tsubaki noticed Maka's slightly uncharacteristic interest in looking good, but didn't comment on it.

The ninja weapon finally settled on a pretty mint green halter dress with a ruffle at the bottom that really brought out her figure. And then she helped Maka choose, since the scythe meister was still undecided.

The last dress she tried on was plum colored, simple, and quite pretty – at least on the hanger. Thankfully it proved to be a perfect comfortably, and when she slid it on and looked into the mirror she paused to take a longer appraisal than the others. It had spaghetti straps and landed a couple of inches above her knees at a cute but still formal length. It was a simple one, just a sheath dress that fit snuggly down to her hips and then opened up to a wider skirt that whirled around her thighs as she did an experimental spin in front of the mirror. The back was the only slightly fancy part about it, being a deep V with some crisscrossing strings like a very open corset back. But it looked really pretty in her opinion and showed off the nice muscles in her back from all her training with Soul.

She spun back around to look it straight on in the mirror again. The fit was perfect. It clung in all the right spots and emphasized her form which had begun to become just a tiny bit curvier in the past few months. Her bust had grown a smidge bit lately, and so she was happy to show off that slight difference. A solid A-cup may not be a lot, but it was nothing to sneeze at in Maka's book. It may have taken her longer to get them – 17 years – but they were there, and she was happy to have them. And the scoop neck of the dress emphasized what she did have in a pretty way.

She didn't have nearly as many curves as Tsubaki, but the dress did show the small dip in her waist and the gentle curve of her hips which had only recently happened. Her normal baggy clothes didn't show the slight changes in her body that had occurred lately, but this dress did, and in a rather dramatic way – which brought up a slight issue.

She simply didn't wear clingy clothes like this. Though it looked good, she was suddenly a little self-conscious.

"Does this dress show off my body too much?"

"What do you mean show it off too much? Isn't that what you want? To show off?"

Maka blushed. "Not…not like that. I mean, I don't want to look slutty or something…"

"Oh! No, no, no, it's not indecent or anything. It just shows you off in a really pretty way, but not like that. It really suites you Maka, you should definitely get it."

"You think?!" Maka said, her voice uncommonly high pitched and happy as she smiled into the mirror.

"Oh yeah, for sure."

Having decided, they both redressed and took their picks with them. They rejoined with the boys shortly thereafter and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the mall, getting some food at the food court and picking ice cream up in a small shop on the way out.

The day of the party, Maka couldn't deny that she was a little jittery as she put on her outfit. She especially felt silly putting on the little flimsy pasties that she was to wear instead of a bra, since the straps and back would show in the dress. With small breasts like hers, the pasties were plenty, but they still felt and looked funny to her. The sheer black thigh-highs were equally strange to her, with their sort of sticky tops to prevent them from sliding back down. She slid on the dress and then the black strappy sandals she had picked out to go with it. They had 2 or 3 inch heels, and felt flimsy compared to her normal clonky boots - but they did make her feel elegant.

She slipped the black lace gloves on her hands, which hid the scars on her fingers and palms. And then put on the matching black lace choker and black jeweled studs in her ears. Over all, it was a pretty ensemble, but she still had to fix her hair. She left it mostly down, but pulled the sides up into a ponytail in the back which she curled, and left two little chunks of hair to dangle down one side of her face, which she also curled. She didn't bother with makeup aside from swiping on a little bit of lipstick that darkened her lips just a smidge and was slightly purple toned to match the dress.

Once she felt that she was presentable, she left the safety of her room, feeling a ball of nerves building in her gut. Why she was nervous to go out there – when it was just Soul who would see her – was not something she wanted to analyze, but she still couldn't entirely mute the insistent thoughts wondering if he would find her pretty.

Sure enough, Soul was already dressed and ready to go. He was standing in the living room looking bored as heck, but Maka took the opportunity to admire his suit. His suit. Not him (she assured herself)…his _suit._

He had dressed himself in a black suit that fit so well it looked tailored. It was plain and simple really, just a black jacket, black dress pants, black dress shoes, a white button down, and a black tie. For once his hair was not tied back by his hair band or bandana, but had been tamed – mostly – by a comb it seemed. It still stubbornly stuck up on the right side, but he had combed it to look smooth and intentional. Somehow, despite the simplicity of the outfit, he looked….really good.

Maka absolutely banished every single word having to do with sexy, hot, attractive, handsome, beautiful, nice looking, and the like from her vocabulary for the remainder of the night.

Surely his appearance was due to how well his suit was tailored, which was why she was so interested in the suit…just the suit…nothing else. It was simple curiosity really, just an intrigue at how the cut of a suit could make someone look so…

She shook her head, giving herself a stern lecture.

It was at this point - a minute or so after he heard the click of Maka's bedroom door - that Soul finally decided to turn and look to see if she had come out or if her door had just made some sort of odd noise. Given the fact that she hadn't said anything, he was wondering what was taking her so long…at least until he saw her, and then all thoughts whooshed right out of his head.

She looked…

Well, he honestly didn't have words for it, not for a good few seconds at least. And then the words started flooding in, including some he had never applied to her before. He had always found her cute, even when he hadn't had these confusing crush-type feelings for her. Lately of course he had found her even cuter, with the new addition of pretty, and noticed more often the bright green of her eyes and the way her dusty blond hair shone.

But now…sexy was a better word for it, or gorgeous, or beautiful…all those things.

She wore such damn baggy clothes he hadn't ever really spent much time looking at her body, aside from admiring her long legs – though he tried to keep that to a minimum. This dress though, it was decidedly not baggy and clung to her like a fucking glove … and a snug one at that. Within the span of ten seconds, he made the fantastic individual discoveries that she did in fact have breasts, as well as hips, and a small waist. All at once. And it very nearly gave him a torrential nose-bleed on the spot. She didn't have Tsubaki's curves by any means, but her petite body had definitely sprouted some very lovely, graceful curves.

The fact that he was thinking up words like 'petite,' 'graceful,' and 'lovely' was proof enough that he had been knocked completely silly, since his vocabulary was generally much rougher.

By this point his body had caught up with him, and he could feel a little bit of blood threatening to escape his nose, and had to turn away and wipe it on his handkerchief, leaving a bloody stain which he folded away into his pocket. Still facing away from her, he shoved his hands in his pockets and rearranged himself, rather shocked that he had to do such a thing. Yes, he had decided that he had a crush on her, but even so he hadn't ever been quite so turned on just by looking at her. He had wanted to maybe kiss her or something…but he hadn't instantly wanted to …do stuff with her.

Well…this threw a kink into his emotions and the whole crush concept. He had wanted to explore it - and still did - but this particular situation was distinctly uncool. Sporting a boner in dressy pants was the definition of bad.

Oh well.

"So, Maka, you ready to go?" He asked, attempting to keep his voice level and cool, and mostly succeeded aside from a slight hick at one point.

"Uh, sure…."

Maka wasn't quite sure what to make of his reaction. Upon seeing her, his red eyes had gone wide and gave her a head to toe once-over the likes of which was usually reserved for Blaire when she got naked.

Speaking of…that stupid cat was still 'living' with them, though she was gone more than half the time doing who-knows-what. Still though, Maka had grown used to her when she was around, but had laid down the law on prancing around naked. She hadn't tried it again after getting Maka Chopped twice for doing it the last time.

The look he had given her was definitely the kind she had seen him give Blaire, only lacking that edge of irritation. But then he had turned around so fast she wasn't exactly sure what had happened. For a second, she entertained the idea that maybe he thought she looked bad…or slutty or something.

However…she could swear she saw him discreetly wipe his nose, and caught the slightest glimpse of red, which indicated that maybe – just maybe – he had gotten a little bit of a nosebleed. Maka wasn't sure what to think about that though. Did that mean he thought she looked good? Didn't that indicate he liked what he saw? But…in what way exactly? If he sprouted a nosebleed around a naked Blaire, and had just gotten a nosebleed around her, then did that mean he was … _interested_ in her? Like _that_?

 _Woah…dangerous thoughts. Abort! Abort! Rewind! Back up! Halt_! Maka thought, her mind screeching to an all-stop. Thinking those sorts of things was bad for her sanity, and so she resolved to put all thoughts of nosebleeds and anything else down that avenue away in the recycle bin for disposal.

Physically shaking her head, she nearly missed his asking if she was ready to go.

"Oh, uh, sure."

They awkwardly walked out in silence, which continued on the drive to the Academy and the party.

…

About an hour or so later of mingling and party going – and a very botched speech that Kid attempted to make which was interrupted by Black Star – Maka found Soul sulking out on the balcony. It wasn't surprising, he hated parties like this. He was fine with parties that Kid held where it was just them and their friends, but he didn't like these kinds of big formal events. She wasn't sure exactly why. The only time she had inquired about it, she'd gotten some sort of mumbled reply about, _'bad memories'_ and then he walked off and refused to talk about it any further.

Still, she was determined to try and pull him out of his funk.

She had even piled her plate high with sushi, which he loved and she hated. Of course she also had the stuff she loved, safely on the other side of the plate.

Putting the plate down on the balcony railing, she leaned next to him. "Hey Soul. What's up? Why are you out here?"

"You know why, Maka."

Sighing, she tried something else. "You should check out the food. There's lots of good stuff."

He grimaced, showing a flash of shark teeth. "Naw. I don't feel like standing in a long line. Just give me some of yours."

"No way! Go get your own." She snapped, despite the fact that she had gotten all that sushi specifically for him. It was a knee jerk reaction to his laziness, and she regretted it after.

He huffed and looked away, already all sulky and just getting more-so now.

After a long moment of silence, Maka broke it. "Hey…is something wrong?"

He started saying something irritable along the lines of, "I already told you-"

She quickly interrupted him. "I don't mean your dislike of these kinds of parties. I already know that. I just meant…well you've been acting a little off lately."

Really she was trying to get him to talk about the nightmares she knew were still plaguing him. Just last night she had heard one on a bathroom and water trip in the middle of the night. It bothered her that he hadn't talked to her about it, even after resonating. During said resonance, she also hadn't picked up on any hint as to what might be causing the nightmares. He must have hidden it very well…which indicated he must have an anti-Maka box just like her anti-Soul box, and she still wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

"No." He said simply in response to her inquiry.

For another moment there was silence, and after a while he glanced down to the plate she had set on the railing. He stared at it for a long contemplative moment.

When he reached for a piece of the sushi, she scowled and snapped, "Hey! I said get your own!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh yeah? Since when did you start liking sushi?"

"Well I…don't."

"Uh huh. And so why did you get so much of it if you don't like it?"

Flushing, she looked away, pouting slightly and feeling silly. "Fine. You win."

He snorted. "Why you gotta be so hard to get along with?"

She flushed even harder, and almost got mad, but then was swamped by a surge of guilt. It wasn't his fault that she was confused because of her stupid feelings, and they were making her cranky. It wasn't fair for her to take it out on him…. Although, she did still feel somewhat justified in being pissy at him for acting lazy.

"…sorry."

That got a rather surprised look from him. It was obvious he wasn't expecting an apology, and didn't really know what to do with it now that it had been offered.

So they just let that one lie where it was put and there was more silence for a moment, until Maka happened to notice all the people dancing through the open doors of the balcony. That sparked an idea, and suddenly she was tugging on Soul's arm and saying, "Hey, how about we dance?"

Soul gave her a mildly disgusted look. "Uh, no."

"Oh come on, why not? You know you're a good dancer, Soul."

"No Maka, I don't wanna dance. You know these fancy parties aren't my scene. The last thing I wanna do is participate by dancing."

Maka pouted at Soul's slumped form as he downed the last bit of raw fish she had brought him and licked his lips. He sent her a sideways look, one which said he knew she wasn't done.

"I read that dancing is good for soul resonance." She tried in a persuasive tone.

He grimaced, and – seeing a weakness in his defense – she pushed the issue with, "Please? Come on, just one dance."

Why she wanted to get him to dance with her she wasn't exactly sure. It was simply a sudden impulse, and she was just sort of going with it. There wasn't much thought put into the request though.

She didn't wait for him to give her a reply, and simply grabbed his arm and started dragging him through the balcony doors and onto the dance floor. An easy song was playing, one that wasn't too fast or slow and didn't have any mushy lyrics that would have made it awkward. He was snarling, and his mouth was fixed in a patented displeased grimace she had seen many times when dragging him out of bed, forcing him to do his homework, or clean the house.

It was obvious he wasn't overly happy with the current situation he found himself in, but he reluctantly went along with it as she put her hand in his and her other on his shoulder. With a sigh he put his hand gingerly on her waist.

"You can lead if you want to…" Maka said with a smile, trying to prompt some sort of positive reaction from him.

He shrugged. "It's cool. Just do whatever."

His response could have easily come across as dismissive or rude to someone who didn't know him – but Maka knew it was simply easy-going. So she replied in kind. "Okay."

They started awkwardly stepping back and forth, kind of side to side and front to back in little baby steps. They weren't moving much at all really, and Maka quickly realized that maybe this hadn't been the hottest idea as awkwardness built. Soul was stiff, obviously uncomfortable, and he held her at nearly arm's length, which meant they weren't really in sync with each other in terms of movements.

Soul really was a good dancer – she'd seen him dance before once or twice when he hadn't known she was looking. He had even danced with her a couple of times, though she didn't remember it being nearly this awkward. Maybe that was due to her new-found feelings for her partner. Or maybe it was because she'd forced him to.

This continued for a little while, and the bundle of nerves only kept getting bigger in her stomach, but then suddenly something over Soul's shoulder caught her attention and distracted her entirely from the discomfort.

"Oh my god…Soul!" She whispered, her eyes popping open wide.

He twitched and looked her in the eye, which he had been avoiding as they danced. "What?"

"Stein and Nurse Medusa…I think they're about to kiss!"

Soul instantly craned his neck to look over his shoulder and try to see what it was she was looking at. "Where?"

"There!" She subtly pointed with her hand that was on his shoulder, and he adjusted his gaze in the direction indicated.

He blinked and for a moment stood still, saying, "…holy shit…" And then "Ow!" as Maka stepped rather firmly on his foot.

"Sorry." She winced, quickly removing her heel from his toe as his shoulders hunched and his head ducked at the sudden sharp pain. "You really should have led."

"Yeah…I see that now." He responded tightly with a slightly aggrieved grin.

Both their attention returned however to their teachers to see if they had actually kissed. To get a better look, Maka closed the distance between them so she could peer over his shoulder better. His white hair was blocking the view so she had to get closer and lean to the side somewhat, using her grip on his shoulder to balance herself. Lately, plastering herself to him would have freaked her out – given her current emotional outlook on Soul and the massive crush she was sorting – but at the moment she was way too interested in Medusa and Stein to care that she was probably popping Soul's personal bubble. Soul didn't seem to even notice that they were practically cheek to cheek as both teens stared avidly over his shoulder to try and spy on their teachers.

Suddenly, something even more shocking broke their concentration. The entire building shook and a deep ominous rumble resounded through the stonework.

Soul's head whipped around, spitting, "The fuck?!" in consternation.

His cheek collided with Maka's, and they both yelped. She immediately jerked back a little and spared a few choice words of her own. She hadn't realized just how close she'd gotten to him, but there was no time to focus on that. Any embarrassment or discomfort was wiped away by the threat of danger.

The next rumble and shake instantaneously caused his previously light grip on her to shift, and both arms wrapped tightly around her, much like hers did around his shoulders. They used each other for balance as the floor vibrated, and Maka's nose smacked into a hard spot on Soul's shoulder. She pulled back some, her eyes watering as one hand went to her nose.

Green and red eyes met, alarm obvious in both. They promptly parted while remaining a firm grip on each other's hand, in case they needed to fight. Any awkwardness between them had dissipated in a split second, and their clasped hands were sure and steady.

"What was that?!"

"Dunno…but it doesn't sound good." Soul responded.

The answer came bursting through the door a moment later in the form of Sid. He was all beat up and instantly yelled, "The Academy is under attack!"

There was immediate pandemonium, and then even more chaos erupted, as what seemed to be crackling electricity charged through the walls in great flashes. Through the doors and windows everyone could see a sparking green barrier was quickly inclosing the tower room they were currently all located in.

"They're locking us in!" Someone yelled.

Sid took abrupt action, and before Maka, Soul, and the rest of their group knew what was going on, suddenly coffins had appeared behind and under each of them, sending them plummeting down through the floor.

"Wha-?!"

"Coffins?"

"Fuck!"

"Maka!"

The shaft was dark and long, and Maka instinctively reached out to connect to Soul. Their souls found each other within an instant, and she was relieved to sense that he was also falling alongside her, hopefully going to the same place.

It was only a moment later when they exited the dark holes, and Maka managed to twist and land on her feet, going down on one knee to absorb the impact, though she didn't actually let her kneecap hit the ground since that might crack it. Soul – on the other hand – landed in a heap, as did Tsubaki, Patty, and Liz. The other meisters also landed on their feet.

It seemed that along with Kid, Patty, Liz, Maka, Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki – Stein and Maka's father had been dropped down with them.

They all landed in the hall beneath the ballroom.

"What is going on?" Tsubaki asked, which was the question they were all wondering right now.

"Put simply, Medusa is a witch who infiltrated the Academy for the soul purpose of reviving the Kishin." Stein stated point-blank. At their confused looks, he proceeded to quickly explain about Medusa, the Kishin, and the situation.

The idea that such a monster could be situated beneath their feet all this time had them all shocked, except for Kid. He spoke up after Stein and confirmed it, saying that he had only just asked his father about it recently himself, and had received the same answer.

"So…these witches are after the Kishin? What do they want with something like that?"

"It seems they want to revive it with the black blood. The same black blood that you two encountered, Maka, Soul."

"Oh shit." The two mentioned said in sync.

There wasn't any more time to talk about it, because they had to get going. It was imperative that they got to the Kishin first and prevented him from being revived. Stein led the way to the underground entrance, though they all made a little detour to their lockers which were conveniently nearby, and changed very swiftly into work clothes. After that, they all dashed off to the underground passage.

Before they stepped through the rather ominous dark stone passageway though, Stein looked them all seriously in the eyes and said, "This is your choice. Going forwards means that you may very well die. I can't promise your safety. Anyone who wants to turn back, better do it now."

All of the younger meisters and weapons shared a look and then as one turned to Stein and said their own variations of, "I'm in."

It was go time. They all tightened their equipment after the quick clothes-change, a physical version of girding their loins, and set off into the creepy dank passage.

* * *

Author's Note:

Alright! We have first contact! Well...sort of. Haha, not really a date, but close enough right? They're definitely both becoming very aware of their feelings for each other...I wonder how long it will take for them to figure out it's mutual? Any ideas? ;)

As always, a huge round of thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. Reviews really do motivate me to keep writing. :D


	9. Chapter 9

It wasn't long before they came upon an obstacle, in the form of Medusa planted smack dab in the way. She obviously didn't intend to let any of them pass. They promptly held a little battle conference in the middle of the hallway - ignoring her presence, mainly because they didn't have a choice. Medusa had told them that her son … which turned out to be Crona, was also waiting for them further down, and if any of them somehow managed to get past her, he would kill them anyways.

A plan was devised, Stein and Spirit would take on Medusa, and the others would simply have to wait for an opportunity to get past her. It was agreed that Kid would go ahead since he was the fastest, and would try to get to the Kishin first. Black Star would take on Crona, since he could use direct soul attacks like Stein. And Maka and Soul would back up Kid, or take on any more surprises they found along the way.

"You people are either overly confidant or just stupid to be holding a strategy meeting right in front of me," Medusa observed, looking miffed and also bemused.

Stein sent her a grin. "Or maybe just desperate."

Medusa shrugged. It was obvious there was some tension there between them, and Soul and Maka shared a look.

Still, this wasn't the time to be gossiping about the faculty… because they were facing a very powerful witch. She proved just how powerful, when she unleashed a mass amount of black arrow things from her body. None of them were sure exactly what they were or what they did, but nobody was under the impression that running into them would be fun, happy times. Likely they were sharp and fatal.

Kid and Black Star got past easily enough, being inhumanly fast as they were, but it was a bit tougher for Maka.

She waited until there was an opening in the arrows, and then ran; putting every ounce of strength she had into her legs to propel her as fast as possible. But more arrows sprouted from Medusa's body and curved up in a deadly arch… before shooting right at her.

"Run Maka!" Soul yelled, seeing them coming.

She didn't waste breath on a response – she could see them just as clearly.

It was terrifying. The jet black tips looked deadly sharp as they came towards her and she had absolutely no doubt that they had the capability to rip her to shreds. Her mind quickly analyzed the situation, and she could tell that the only way she could possibly make it through alive was to go straight through the center, right at Medusa. It wasn't a path the witch expected her to take obviously, but it was her only option and so she did it without hesitation. The only obstacle was her own physical limitation. She was already pushing herself to the absolute maximum speed she could achieve, but it still wasn't quite enough.

"Just keep running! Don't worry about it!" Soul shouted.

Blindly, Maka trusted him and put every ounce of concentration into forwards momentum, not even looking at the arrows. Their souls had already been synced since falling, and so she could sense him as he shifted his hilt in her hands, and –feeling his intention – she shifted his hilt around her body without looking, wielding him blindly. None of her attention was on him, it was all on moving forwards as fast as possible, and so it was up to him to guide her hands and body, which he did with nudges of his own soul against hers and his metal against her skin.

As they met the arrows, he whipped around her running form, knocking all of the deadly projectiles aside. She used a palm here or there to prevent him from flying away from her, but mostly it was his hilt rotating around her limbs that warded off the black points of death.

They squeaked through the narrow opening with only a few shallow cuts, since they had managed to get there just a hair before the majority of the arrows. Thanks to that, Soul had been able to deflect the glancing blows easily enough. If he hadn't though, there had been a few that would have pierced and stalled her for the rest to turn her into a pincushion.

Maka never slowed, and slipped right past Medusa, with only an inch or so to spare between their bodies.

She kept running, and didn't stop until she had put a great deal of distance between her and the witch. Then she paused for a brief moment to catch her breath, feeling like her lungs were about to pop under the pressure. Her knees bent and she braced herself with one hand on a leg as she fought for breath, her other hand holding Soul propped across her shoulders and back.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." She wheezed back, and slowly straitened.

"Well, you sound marvelous." His reflection grimaced at her, showing a full set of pointy whites as he dismissed the statement that she was fine.

"Thanks…." Her voice matched his for sarcasm, but it lacked any sort of bite.

Soul stayed in weapon form as they continued down the path. She let his hilt rest across her shoulders and used it as a perch for her forearms, which helped to open up her lungs some and get more oxygen in her.

It wasn't long before they came upon Black Star and Crona. Unsurprisingly, it seemed Black Star had already made a move on the pink haired boy.

Strangely….as soon as Maka saw him, something bloomed within her. It wasn't rage exactly – though anger bubbled in her blood – and it wasn't exactly a wish for vengeance either. It was simply the utter knowledge that he was _her_ opponent… _hers_ to defeat. She didn't exactly know where the feeling came from or why. The only thing that could possibly explain the odd sensation, was that it stemmed from sheer intuition, a second sense that she had learned to trust in battle, because it usually proved right. It was the same sort of knowledge that had told her not to go into the chapel where she had first met Crona, and not listening to it that time had nearly costed Soul's life. She wouldn't be making that mistake again.

Whatever the cause, it drove her to interrupt their battle.

Black Star was predictably enraged. "What are you doing Maka?! This is my spotlight!"

He almost looked like he was going to punch her next … until he saw her expression. Those flat, intense green eyes glared through him, focused solely on Crona. "He's _mine_."

For once, Black Star backed off…. But he did it with his usual flair. "Pshhh! This guy's too small for a big guy like me to defeat anyways! Scream for me if you need help!"

So saying, he set off down the way with a loud scream of, "WAAAHOOOOO!"

"Maka, what are you doing? Do you seriously think we can take this guy on?" Soul asked urgently.

"Honestly? No."

There was a long pause, and then Soul began to laugh. "You're crazy Maka, you know that right?"

"Yep."

"Alright then. Let's do this thing."

Crona was exactly the same as she remembered – seemingly timid, mad as a hatter, and not knowing how to deal with anything, including Maka.

The battle commenced. Maka went at him with scythe blade, which only resulted in cutting his hand as he blocked it. Those kinds of attacks weren't going to work on him, not with his black blood which shot out at her like a spear. Crona attacked with his scream resonance omega, driving Soul and Maka back.

"How's a toothpick like him so fucking strong?!" Soul groused after a bit.

"It's the black blood! It's strengthening his body."

"Yeah, no shit."

What Maka didn't say, was that there was something else, something she could just barely grasp with her soul perception. She could almost see a twinkling of something recognizable in him, and _it_ was the thing that had given her a sense that she couldn't possibly lose somehow. But she just couldn't put her finger on it.

If only she had more time, if only she was as powerful as Crona…maybe then she could figure it out. She had to submerge herself into her soul perception if she wanted to find Crona and figure out just what it was that she was sensing. But she couldn't do that at her current level of power. Maybe she couldn't do it anyways, since she had no notion of the madness clouding his mind – and to truly understand that … _thing_ that was calling to her…she might have to synchronize her soul with his. Without his insanity, she doubted she would be able to sync to him.

At any rate, there was no way they would even survive this battle at their current power level.

"Soul…maybe we should…"

Picking up on her train of thought, Soul's reflection grinned in his blade. "Good thing we've practiced this before right?"

"Yeah."

"Soul resonance!" they said in unison.

Maka concentrated on Soul, and matched her wavelength to his, as he did the same thing. With a crackle and pop they began to merge, their souls matching up until they harmonized perfectly and melted together. The resonance was stronger than anything they had done before, and Maka almost shied away, but she fought the urge to put up a shield between them. There was no time for that kind of nonsense right now.

Right now, practically becoming one soul was almost comforting as she felt a surge of power flood through her. It was nearly intoxicating, and thus it took her a moment to realize that they were… glowing. The power coming off of their combined soul wavelengths reflected light off the ground and encircled them, a ring of power kicking up dust as it started rotating around Maka's feet. It caused her pigtails to blow and her coat to be picked up as if in a sharp breeze, despite the fact that there was no wind.

Crona and Ragnarok resonated too though, and a similar ring of light appeared around them, theirs being purple while the light around Maka was blue like the color of Soul's soul.

"We need to resonate higher!" Soul urged, hearing the stronger resonance coming from their opponents.

Maka nodded, trusting him, and tried to match her wavelength even tighter to his. It got to the point that she felt like their breath became one, their heartbeats became one, and she could feel Soul almost inside every part of her. It was intense, but she couldn't focus on the nearly crushing intimacy of it, she had to wield his blade.

"Witch Hunter!"

Soul's red and black scythe grew abruptly into the large crescent shape she remembered from the last time, and he glowed white hot as if he could burn her, but his steel remained cool to the touch though he now vibrated with power in her hands. She could feel their combined souls' wavelengths pulsing through the metal, as if he thrummed to the same beat that held their souls so tightly together. They could both feel that same pulse throbbing within them, and could also feel the other's sensation of it. It was like a room with a mirror on either side, reflected back and forth into infinity. They could see into each other forever.

It was intoxicating, feeling so much power resonating in her hands and inside of her, but at the same time it was an immense destructive force, one which she knew she could discharge accidentally and kill them both. She used every ounce of training and practice to wield him safely. Strangely though, it almost seemed to come naturally this time. Because they were so closely linked, he knew where she wanted him to go, and he went there.

Without further ado, they launched themselves at Crona and attacked with a number 6 attack and a letter U attack, both of which she had read about in a book and had been dying to try out. They were two different deadly arches, one coming from above and curling under. The second reversed its course and then came up from underneath. They were executed perfectly, and yet they didn't seem to affect Crona at all, and he broke the Witch Hunter easily.

In contrast, they staggered back under Crona's assault. They were still resonating, but didn't have the time to form another Witch Hunter attack.

This was mainly because Soul was afraid to resonate with Maka any higher, and had even toned it down a level, because he could feel the black blood pulsing strongly in his veins and knew if he bound himself any more tightly to her, it would infect her as well. That was the last thing he wanted.

But that dumb little devil just wouldn't let it drop.

"Come now Soul, do you really think this is going to work? Just let your reason go. Let me take the lead, I can give you so much power…"

"No. My reason and sanity stays right where it is. You can give me all the power you want, but _I'm_ going to control _it_. _It's_ not going to control _me_."

"Yes? And what about Maka? You refuse to resonate with her any higher because of your fear. The both of you will die if you keep this up."

Soul winced, not because of what the devil said, but because Crona's screaming resonance was hitting him at full force and had already caused a few superficial wounds to his soul. Even here, in the dark red and black of his personal soul-space where he was currently arguing with his resident demon, the pain was getting to him.

"See? That boy is going to tear you apart. You can't fight insanity with reason. You have to fight dark with dark. Insanity with insanity."

"No."

At his continued denial, the little beast lost his normally pristine composure and started yelling, complete with flying spittle.

"You dumb incompetent little brat! Do you think you can get all the power and not give something up in return!? It doesn't work that way! You have to give up your sanity! GIVE INTO THE MADNESS! GIVE UP YOUR HUMANITY ALREADY! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FIGHTING SPIRIT, EH?"

He raged at Soul…but Soul raged right back, in the exact same tone and volume and level of crazy mad. He even matched the demon's spittle and bared sharp teeth.

"OH YEAH? Well how about you just shut up you bastard? You mean nothing to me! And _**nothing**_ doesn't fucking SPEAK! I'm the lead here, I control this ship, and you do not make any decisions - so shut the fuck up already! If you have any brilliant tips on how to gain more power then tell me and I'll decide whether I want to go with your idea! But don't give me any more of this fucking 'go insane' crap because I'm over it!"

"Just how am I supposed to tell you how to gain power while also shutting up?"

"I dunno! Pretend you're a mime!"

Meanwhile, the black blood had already found its way back inside of Maka despite Soul's attempts to prevent that from happening. Her concentration shifted from the battle to a small insidious voice that spoke to her in her own head, ushering her inwards. Suddenly it was like she had a split consciousness - there was a part of her that was still outside, focusing on the battle, but another part was drawing inward. Suddenly she found herself in an unfamiliar space. With her soul perception, she automatically knew that this was Soul's personal soul-space, the scene he pictured inside of his soul when he retreated to it. It was nothing like her own soul-space, but then that shouldn't surprise her.

Everyone had a different soul-space, and it wasn't entirely by choice. It was partly what you would call a person's 'happy place' but it was also their deep subconscious, and so they didn't necessarily have control over what showed up there or how it looked.

There were several surprises in Soul's.

She never would have expected it to be so…formal…or dark. It looked elegant and ominous, with red and black checkered floors and red velvet walls. If it wasn't so gloomy, it would have been almost a seductive setting, and still was in a way. But it was definitely a menacing sort of seductive. There were paintings on some of the walls, and in fact she caught a glimpse of one area that seemed more brightly lit – partially hidden behind a heavy curtain – which was all paintings. Currently she was in what appeared to be a formal sitting room, complete with an old record player…the kind with a trumpet-like speaker.

She supposed this is what people meant by someone having an old-soul…although she never would have pegged Soul as possessing one.

The largest surprise of all was the fact that he wasn't alone in here; he had a little red demon guy who was persistently arguing with him. Since Soul hadn't noticed her yet, she took the time to do a little eavesdropping, feeling a bit bad about it but unable to pass up this perfect opportunity to find out just what was going on with him. It wasn't difficult to figure out.

This little demon guy was the physical manifestation of the black blood in Soul's body, and it was trying to persuade him to submit to the insanity dwelling within him. This was undoubtedly the dark power she had felt from Soul, and the reason his wavelength had grown so powerful and very nearly overwhelmed her own once or twice. But he obviously had acquired a tight control over the little demon, because he was holding his own.

Maka couldn't help but be impressed at how Soul fended off the demon's insistence, with a practiced ease which told her this was probably a near constant conversation going on in his soul. But it did give her an idea.

Soon, the demon turned and ushered her in, and suddenly she knew it was him who had called her here to begin with, undoubtedly to use her as a bargaining chip. He was up to something, and planned to use her, but she planned to use him instead.

"Maka?! What are you doing here?!"

"Well, I'm not actually sure. I think he somehow called me." She answered, pointing at the little demon.

Soul scowled at him. "What's the meaning of this? Are we all in my brain or something?"

"Well, your souls _are_ still resonating right now. So it was easy to bring her to your soul-space. You're basically the same soul when you resonate after all."

"How do I know this isn't just something you made up? How do I know it's really her?"

Soul promptly followed the question by grabbing Maka and poking, prodding, and generally testing her. He stuck his fingers in her mouth to pull on her cheeks, yanked on her nose, tugged on her ears, everything he could think of to verify her identity. She could only put up with so much of that before… "Maka….CHOP!"

Where she pulled the book from she wasn't sure, but it appeared when she needed it.

"Okay…yeah she's the real Maka." Soul groaned, holding his head.

After a moment of silence – in which he crouched and nursed his sore head – he stood and gave her a thorough once-over. "So, what's up with that outfit?"

She glanced down, noticing for the first time that she was wearing a long black dress. It was quite a pretty dress really. The bodice and skirt were made of a silky, gleaming material that slunk around her form and hugged her like a second skin. The bodice was strapless and curved over her breasts in a beautiful manner, and above that was thin, sheer black mesh that covered practically all exposed skin. It ended midway up her neck in almost a turtleneck fashion - though it was so comfortable she couldn't even feel it really and had to discern where it ended with a finger run across her throat. The stranger part was how the sheer mesh also covered her shoulders and arms, all the way down to her fingers. The skirt was long, down to her ankles, and loosened around her hips from the snug bodice to flow gracefully when she moved. She was thankful that the skirt wasn't tight like the rest of it, because as comfortable as it felt on her upper body, she doubted it would have been comfortable restricting the movement of her legs.

She looked back up to see Soul staring at her expectantly, and remembered that he had just asked her why she was wearing said dress.

"Uh, I don't know. Probably for the same reason you're dressed like that." She countered.

He glanced down at his black pinstripe suite and blood red shirt. This suite was even better tailored than the one he had worn to the dance, and made him look even more handsome – a sentiment she instantly silenced. But she couldn't help thinking he looked dangerous almost, like a very powerful gangster – like a mob boss. Or a pimp – a concept which almost had her laughing.

He heard her second idea and scowled at her. They were still resonating, and could hear each other's thoughts to a certain extent. They still couldn't pick up on the thoughts that were hidden inside their respective safe-boxes, but any strong images or feelings that flashed through their minds were fair game. Thankfully she'd hidden the ones on how handsome she thought he looked before he'd picked up on them. She had heard his thoughts on her outfit though, and had been pleased to hear that he thought she was beautiful in the dress, though she refused to dwell on that fact.

He wasn't too pleased about her thinking that he looked like a pimp though, but then she sensed amusement from him and a surge of pleasure. It wasn't that he wanted to look like a pimp, but the previous comparison did please him - that of a powerful gangster, which he thought was pretty cool.

She rolled her eyes at him, amused by his thought process.

But of course things just had to get weirder, and for whatever reason the little demon guy thought that this was a conversation that would be done best while dancing. So he put on some swanky music, and Maka couldn't help but think it was oddly sexy in a weird jazzy way. It was certainly seductive – which was appropriate really, since the demon was trying to seduce them both.

This time, as they came together to dance, Soul wasn't stiff like before. He was in his element, in his own soul in fact, and he was in control. There wasn't any of the uncertainty of before; though it was obvious he found the situation somewhat odd and uncomfortable like her. But surprisingly, it wasn't as weird as she would have thought. It almost seemed natural, like this was a thing they were supposed to do…as if dancing together in their temporarily joined souls was the most natural thing in the world. It was easy.

"You have to lead this time Soul. I don't know how to do this." The music that devil had put on was weird to her, and she couldn't pick up on a beat to dance to.

He smiled. "Yeah. This time for sure."

That was a comment on her stepping on his foot before.

He did indeed take the lead. Being in a soul-space, it was difficult to tell if they were really moving or not, but it felt like they were. Yet of course there was no physical stress, so there was no getting out of breath. He pulled her close this time, instead of keeping her at arm's length, and she could feel the warmth of their "bodies" heating the space between them. Their faces were close, quite close in fact since they were almost the same height, although she'd noticed he'd grown a little lately.

"So…what are you doing here, Maka?"

"Like I said, he called me."

"Yeah, but why did you come?"

She remained silent for a while. That idea she had was still percolating in her mind, and she felt that now was probably the time to bring it up to Soul.

"Hey Soul, when we're resonating like this, you can read my mind right?"

He blinked, and then his eyes sharpened as he obviously took the hint and intentionally paid attention to her thoughts. She could feel him there, in her mind. Though she had been able to feel him there the whole time… now it was a more distinct presence. It was a little unsettling, but she didn't focus on that, instead she laid out the idea she had. She wanted to use the black blood and infect herself with the same insanity that Crona had. The black blood would strengthen and protect her and give her the time necessary to go deep into her soul perception and try to find his soul…and that mysterious something she had been able to sense. The resulting insanity would also help her by letting her sync her soul to his once she'd found him. She was positive that would be the key to their success.

She could see when it clicked in Soul's mind, and heard his disbelief loud and clear. "You have _got_ to be kidding. You wanna use the black blood? Seriously?"

"Yes Soul. If I could just be as strong as him, just for a little while…I know I sensed something in him. But I can't reach it if I'm this weak. Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to do anything about it without matching his insanity. "

"There's gotta be a better way."

"I can't see one. We're running out of time."

"Maka, if you do this, you know that the madness might drag you under right? You may not come back the same person."

That was a frightening thought, and he could sense the little zing of unease that went through her, but she was stubborn and she'd made up her mind.

He could feel that easily enough.

After a long moment…. "Okay, okay. I give." He said with a sigh. And then he pulled her closer, almost to the point where their bodies touched. There was barely an inch between their faces as he said seriously, "But remember Maka, I'm still your weapon. No matter how far you sink, I'll pull you out. I swear."

Normally, the proximity would have sent her running the other way, but at the moment they were talking soul to soul, were inside Soul's personal mind and heart, and were dancing in front of a demon that was about to flood her with black blood. So it didn't bother her nearly as much as it normally would have. There were too many other weird things going on for her to focus on, though her heart did seem to pick up a bit more.

"I know." She said simply with a smile.

"Good."

He released her at that point.

The agreement had been struck, and suddenly she could feel darkness seeping into her through their connection. She was ripped from the posh red and black sitting room, and was thrown into a puddle of blackness so dark and deep she couldn't tell up from down. This was a different kind of soul-space. It was similar to the empty space that a weapon's soul would retreat to during weapon form, the blank space that was reflected in their blade. It was the kind that stripped you of your clothes and left your soul naked and faintly glowing.

Her body was now no longer her own really. The split from before - where half her attention was on the fight and half was on the conversation taking place in Soul's mind - was no longer the case. The tiny bit of reason still left in the half controlling her was swamped by a wave of crazy. The insanity tugged at her, driving her to do the strangest, craziest things. She couldn't control her actions or what she said anymore really. It was her, but not her.

The real her was inside, deep in a pit of blackness, watching the activities from there. She cringed as her body did a few particularly embarrassing things, like bite Crona's head for some reason. That was humiliating – even more so when she followed it up with a gigantic lick.

" _ **Maka! What are you doing out there?!"**_

That was Soul's voice ringing inside her.

They were still resonating.

"I'm not out there…not really. I'm insane now remember? I have no control over my actions anymore. I'm lost in the blackness…"

" _ **Well hurry up! Do whatever you've gotta do… and fast! Or else you'll never be able to come back!"**_

She could hear the strain in his voice and knew instinctively through their connection that he was being pulled under with her. "Hang in there Soul, now that I have the same madness, I can match my soul's wavelength to Crona's and figure out how to fix this. Just a little longer."

She felt his affirmative.

Though she was trapped in here, it was perfect really. She still had access to her soul perception, and so she used it to its fullest in the darkness. The first soul she spotted was the closest – hers. It was small and shone with a golden light. It looked almost like it had pigtails, sort of like her, which was a feature she had long since been amused about.

The next closest was of course Soul's. Smiling tenderly, she swam up to the little glowing blue ball, which funnily enough was stamped with a jagged impression of his sharp teeth, and without thinking she embraced it. It was simply an instinct really, like when you see an adorable kitten or puppy you just have to pet and snuggle. Not that she thought Soul's soul was cute like a baby animal. No, his soul was beautiful, warm, and drew her like a moth to a lightbulb. It felt like home and friendship and love, and holding it gave her a small bit of sanity back, and comforted her in this strange inky world she now found herself in.

Meanwhile, Soul was not having a fun time by any means.

As soon as Maka accepted the black blood and was sucked into insanity Soul found himself chest deep in the same miasma, which kept trying to drag him down with her. He absolutely refused though, and through sheer stubbornness managed to keep his head up and above the blackness. He could barely feel Maka's soul wavelength anymore, so steeped in blackness was it.

Then, suddenly, he felt her, like a warm embrace wrapped all around him. He had no way to explain it, no way to know what the hell just happened, but it somehow drew him from the madness. How her soul could be a light for him when she was completely drowned already he had no idea, but the warmth of her soul pulled him from the black ooze some. It bolstered him just enough to keep himself afloat.

Then it was gone. Though Soul wanted to yell for her to come back, he waited patiently instead, grinding his teeth as he felt himself begin to sink again…but the progress was slowed significantly. She had bought him a few precious moments and he intended to use them.

Maka left his soul to go and search for Crona's.

It wasn't too hard to find thankfully. It glowed purple, and Maka reached out and gently grabbed on, syncing her soul to his wavelength.

Before she knew what was happening, she had entered into his soul-space, which turned out to be a desert. That wasn't entirely surprising, it was like he had been drained of all happiness and was left with a wasteland. And abruptly Maka realized what she had been picking up from him. She had sensed the same sort of pain and loneliness she herself had experienced, only his was so much worse. He was completely isolated, abused by his mother, and friendless. He was also terrified of interacting with other people.

When entering his soul-space, she found that she had turned into a child, and that he was a child when she ran into his soul.

"What are you doing here?!"

Little-Maka smiled. "I felt your loneliness. And your fear. I came to try and help."

"H-help? What do you mean?"

"Well…can I come in?" She asked in reference to the pitiful line Crona had drawn around himself in the sand.

"No! No one can come into my space! This is my space! Just for me!"

 _So…this is his personal bubble huh? Time to pop it then_. Maka thought to herself, and walked right across the line. She had to get close to him, had to show him that not everyone was going to hurt him if he let them in. It was a lesson she had been forced to learn herself.

Crona reacted rather badly, especially when she took the time to erase the line entirely with her foot. He seemed to go into shock in fact, and his gray eyes blanked out. Maka took the opportunity to go over to his soul, and her little soul hand touched his shoulder. He jerked, his absolutely horrified face whipping up to look at her.

"See? It doesn't have to hurt Crona. Not everyone is out to get you."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" He screamed, trying to back away.

Maka's hand fisted in the material of his dress and held him still. "I do understand Crona. I'm here, in your soul, remember? And believe it or not, I know what it feels like to be lonely and afraid. Believe me."

Finally, she saw the crack she had been waiting for. That line in the sand had been his first defense, and now his whole soul was out of whack. Her words had just cracked him wide open, and through it she could see the madness within him. His soul was a mess of chaos. Whatever terrible thing Medusa had done to him, it had left him with a tangle of nonsense. It was no wonder he was so screwed up.

He had Ragnarok, a whole different soul, which constantly influenced his own, almost like Siamese twins in the womb. He had his own feelings that had been ripped apart by all the abuse. He had some innate fears and anxieties that it seemed he had been born with, and those had only been worsened significantly by the abandonment, neglect, torture. He had been forced to do unspeakable things, coerced into thinking that it was the right thing, and punished if he fought against it. There was dark and light inside of him, but there was so much dark that it was strangling his soul.

And suddenly Maka knew what she had to do. With this opening she could reach him. It was time to return.

"Soul! Pull me out of here and hurry!" She called to her weapon, once again drifting in a sea of darkness as she left Crona's soul-space. She had to hurry, Crona was self-imploding and would probably go completely insane if she didn't hurry.

"Maka!"

Part of his soul leapt free and landed in a completely different soul-space than the one he was currently stuck in in his weapon form. It almost seemed like his soul-space, the one they had danced in earlier, but somehow submerged or deeper.

"Where are you?"

"Here!"

He looked down towards her voice, and saw that she was reaching up towards him from what seemed to be the other side of a mirror or under a layer of water. Hissing, he knelt and quickly reached for her, having to shove his whole arm into the thick insanity. It was like reaching through tar or hardening cement, nearly impossible to push through, but through force of will he managed to shove his way to her, and he felt her latch onto his hand tightly. For a brief nauseating moment it felt like she was going to pull him down, but he set his feet hard on the rippling glasslike surface and heaved with every ounce of resolve he possessed. To both their relief, she popped free.

In an instant he was back in his weapon's soul-space and Maka zipped by on the way back to her body.

She caught the briefest glimpse of Soul, caught up in something that looked like mucky evil tar, and then she was back, wondering for the first time why Soul was naked in that other soul-space when he was in weapon form. Shaking that thought from her head, she turned her attention to Crona, who had gone completely nuts and was shooting spikes of black blood from every part of his body.

She set Soul aside and approached.

"Maka! What are you doing? You'll be turned into a shish kabab!"

"Don't worry Soul. I've got this."

He grew silent and just watched, apparently trusting her enough to know what she was doing. For that she was grateful, and slowly approached the bomb about to go off.

"There's no need to be so scared Crona." She murmured, as if to a wild animal, and also to get his attention.

His wild eyes turned to her as he screamed, "No! Don't come any closer!"

Instead of a circle of sand, she was confronted by spears of blood, but she walked through it all the same. Sharp tips sliced across her skin as they shot by her, leaving a few trailing lines of red, but none of them punctured her.

Soon she was right on top of his kneeling form, and she let her body fall into his. Since she had come into contact with his soul, she knew him, and her soul reached out to his. The normal fears that accosted her when resonating and such were quiet for once, overwhelmed by his own terror. But still, she pulled them forth, and let him feel them, let him feel how scared she was of opening up and trusting others, and used it to resonate with him. He quieted some and finally let her soul touch his once again. She brought her hands up to his back to hug his skinny frame, a gesture which sent a shudder of unease through him. But then suddenly he collapsed, all tension running from his body.

As he collapsed into her, she held his frail body up.

"It's not that you don't know how to deal with other people, Crona….It's just that no one's taken the time to deal with you." She wisely observed.

"It's okay. I'm used to it." He said in his normal bland tone, sounding sort of spacy though as if he was in shock.

Maka could feel her own soul swelling, and her body began to glow with golden light, lit from inside by her soul. She could feel more than see how those pigtails lifted and revealed themselves to actually be wings. Much in the same way that she and Soul had glowed together as they resonated, Maka glowed as well, her soul visible to the naked eye in a way it normally wasn't as a purifying wavelength spilled from her into Crona.

It was unintentional on her part. In fact she had no idea what she was doing or that she had the ability to do it, all she knew was that she felt warm and it was as if her soul had become light as a feather. 'Feather' was an appropriate analogy as - for the first time - her soul was revealed as a Grigori soul, one of the rare "angel-type" souls that possessed purifying, sanctifying, anti-demon wavelengths, the kind that she was currently using to purify Crona. She could feel that inky darkness in him, almost like a toxin, and pictured her light piercing through it and wiping it away.

Soul, meanwhile, had retaken his human form and watched in wonderment as his meister embraced their enemy, who was reduced to a sobbing sputtering mess. He was even more shocked as she began to glow in a way that made the demon within him cower and hide, shutting up completely for once. It was a beautiful glowing golden light, warm and making him feel like he was standing in the face of the sun, but a much nicer beautiful sun that wasn't cackling down at him.

Then, something happened, which had him squinting and looking closer. If he wasn't mistaken, it almost seemed like a super tiny, indistinct pair of golden wings made entirely of light had sprouted from her back, but to be honest it was really impossible to be sure. They glowed brightly, along with the rest of her, and she lit up the dark cavern like a lighthouse.

It was over within a brief span, and she quickly began to dim.

Maka still had no clue what exactly it was that she had just done. There was still insanity within Crona, she knew that well enough, but it was much less and more in balance with the rest of him now at least. It would be impossible to wipe all the blackness from him, though she had tried, but the black blood that flowed through his veins was impossible to reverse. It was a physical thing, not a soul thing, and she could only purify his physical body to a certain extent. He also had the soul of a demon inside of him – that demon sword Ragnarok. She couldn't remove him, but had managed to wrangle him to a more manageable size within Crona, since - when she had first entered his soul in their real forms - Ragnarok had almost overwhelmed Crona's soul.

What she _had_ succeeded in accomplishing though was to restore his sanity. She'd put him in a position where he could choose to control the darkness, the way Soul did with his own little demon and black blood problem.

Of course, Maka didn't know how she had done any of this, and fully intended to ask Dr. Stein about it if they all survived. She also didn't know that she had purified the black blood from her own body entirely.

What she did know was that whatever she had just done had taken a lot out of her and suddenly she felt exhausted. It was going to be a real trip through hell to try and go the rest of the way, but they had to try and go back up the rest. But, before that happened, Maka had to regain her balance, because suddenly Crona and her switched positions on who was holding up who as she lost an alarming amount of strength.

After a moment she pulled back and shakily extended a hand towards Crona with a smile. "So, what do you say? Wanna be my friend? Please say yes."

The pink haired boy stared at her with googly eyes for a long moment, and then burst into a new crying jag as he slowly clasped her hand and bobbed his head.

"Good." She said with another smile, closing her eyes and wobbling a little in place. It was a good thing she was sitting down, because right now she wasn't sure she would have been able to stay upright.

This battle – at least – was over.

It took Maka a few minutes to recover enough to regain her mobility, but as soon as she was able to get on her feet they needed to take off and go find the others and the Kishin. They left Crona to deal with the much smaller demon sword that popped out of his back as he yelled and shrieked and made a big fuss about how Crona had failed and how much trouble they were going to get in. It looked highly unpleasant, but the sword's tiny fists weren't able to do near as much damage to the pink haired boy as before and he held his own pretty well.

So they left him to it and ran off to try and get to the inner-most room in time.

Unfortunately, they were just a second too late, because they came upon a scene of chaos right out of their worst nightmares. The Kishin was regaining his skin, in a horror show of loose flesh and bones. The others had been beaten soundly and weren't able to catch him as he finished putting his skin back on – which in and of itself was nearly enough to shock Maka into stillness.

But she had just enough wherewithal to dash forwards at the last second as he got himself put together. He made to run away by simply bashing his way through the ceiling. Maka was able to snag the very end of what she realized was a scarf made of skin to her disgust, but she clung to it with every bit of strength she had left as he plowed his way through the ground. That turned out to be harder than one would have thought, because as he broke through all the sturdy rock, he also managed to send plenty of stones tumbling down at his tag-along, not to mention bashing her against the rough stone walls. It was all she could do to hold onto him and Soul at the same time, but like hell was she releasing either.

What exactly it was that she was thinking was a mystery to her. She knew she couldn't stop him by merely grabbing onto him; she had just acted on instinct. Following her instinct had gotten them in a tight spot though, because as he finally broke through to the surface she found herself being dragged up into the sky to a rather alarming height at an incredible speed.

She simply reached her limit, and had a brief moment of clarity. The knowledge slapped her across the face that if she rose any higher into the air, she would die. Undoubtedly they would plummet to the ground at some point, and if they gained any more altitude that fall would kill them. She might have tried to hang on until maybe he went over a tall roof or something they could land on, but the other factor of the situation was that her already exhausted fingers simply could clench no longer.

In fact, she basically passed out for half a second.

Soul had been yelling at her the whole time, questioning her sanity and wondering aloud at what the hell she could possibly thinking. None of that compared to his scream of "MAKA!" as she let go and began to plummet to the ground.

She didn't pass out for an extended period of time, but it was still long enough for her to lose her grip, and she woke back up in time to scream in utter terror as she registered their free fall. The sound was whipped from her mouth by the fast flowing air, and she couldn't even tell if she had made any kind of noise, due to the roar of air going past her ears and the sound of her own pulse dominating her hearing.

Maka had known fear before, but nothing quite of this caliber.

It went so fast, and yet as they fell Soul had just enough time to transform back into a human - an action which made no sense to Maka. If he just stayed as a weapon he wouldn't be hurt by the fall. Instead he was making himself vulnerable. If she had more time, she would have screamed at him to stay in weapon form, and she did try, but all that she could manage was, "Soul?! Wha-?!"

Again, it didn't matter anyways, because he certainly couldn't hear her. She couldn't even hear herself.

It became clear why he had transformed though, when a second later he managed to snag her mid-air and pulled her to his warm chest, wrapping his arms very tightly around her form. She gasped, feeling him turn them somehow, putting himself below her. A shot of fear that wasn't for her own safety seared every brain receptor she possessed, but she didn't have time or the ability to express the intense emotion.

She didn't even have time to brace for impact.

With a crash that felt like it had popped her eardrums, they landed back-first in a tall pile of crates. Those crates were full of produce, which softened the blow just enough that they didn't die on impact. But that wasn't saying much.

They still hit hard enough that Maka felt all the wind get knocked from her, and it jolted their bodies from the protective ball Soul had curled them into. They both splayed out, though Soul's arms somehow stayed wrapped strongly around her middle. In fact, he was gripping her so tightly that she was positive she would have bruises in the shape of his arms, but of course those bruises would just be hidden under a million darker and more painful ones. His grip acted like a seatbelt, being the only thing that kept her from getting tossed off him and into the rubble. She could feel his nails bite into her to help him keep his vice-like grip on her. The sensation was sharp against her skin even through her shirts and coat.

Oranges, bananas, apples, grapes, and watermelons went flying, crushed under them and falling to lie on top of their bodies as they hit the ground. They crashed through all the crates till they hit ground level, where they stopped all downward momentum very abruptly. Maka was knocked silly for a moment, the world getting all squirrely, and for a second it all went black. However, she still felt Soul's full-body shudder of pain beneath her, and it snapped her out of la-la land very quickly. He had taken the full brunt of the fall.

His back was most likely broken, and that was if he hadn't been stabbed by a stray shard of the wooden crates they had crashed through. Instantly she reached out for him with her soul to try and see the damage and figure out how to disentangle herself from him while inflicting the least amount of pain. He accepted her soul and let her feel his pain, which shocked her a little, but soon she saw why. He was trying to reassure her that he hadn't been fatally wounded.

"I'm fine, Maka…" He coughed from under her, his arms refusing to unwrap and just holding her tightly to him. It almost seemed to be for his comfort now.

Through the resonance she could feel that he had transformed his back into a blade, which had cut through the boxes without harming him and had taken the large majority of the impact. It had stabbed into the solid concrete ground beneath them - which explained why there was a network of radiating cracks out from under the point of impact - and he was only just now letting the blade ease back into his body. His back was sore, but there was no spinal damage thankfully. There also didn't seem to be any internal damage, but the bruise on his back from neck to ass would probably be pitch black. They might also want to check and make sure he hadn't hit his head.

It was a miracle that's all that had happened.

"You're not _'fine.'_ You're in too much pain." Maka groaned back, attempting to sit up.

That didn't work out too well, as her entire body protested the attempt and forced her to ease back down on top of Soul. He took her back with a very soft grunt and assisted her with his hands on her shoulders to make sure she didn't just fall back and bash his face in with the back of her skull.

"Easy there, just rest for a bit okay?"

She relaxed into him and into their resonance, feeling his heart beat against her back and soothed by its constant rhythm.

Lord Death and the Kishin were going at it in the air above them, and they probably needed to get the hell out of here as soon as possible or risk being a casualty of the intense battle. But neither of them could quite get up the will to move just yet.

Thankfully the fight quickly moved to another air space and both Maka and Soul breathed a little easier.

After a while the sounds of battle ceased entirely, which signaled that either the Kishin had been defeated or had escaped entirely. It still took them a little more time to finally peel themselves up from the ground and they leaned on each other the whole way home. Somehow they managed to stagger back to their apartment. That probably had a lot to do with Blaire, who popped out of nowhere half-way there and helped support them both.

The sexy kitty helped them both into the apartment, and then said, "You guys need some medical treatment. Who's first?"

Soul pointed at Maka.

"Hey! You got more hurt than I did." She protested, but he just shrugged.

"Not really. You actually have blood on you from fighting Crona. I just have bruises."

Before they could argue about it any further, Blaire was disrobing Maka to get to her wounds. All conversation switched tracks instantly.

"Hey! What're you doing Blaire?!" Soul yelped, his eyes blown wide in shock

"Stop that, you dumb cat! Hey! That's my shirt!"

"I can't help bandage these wounds if you have clothes covering them."

"Well yeah but…" Maka started but was cut off as her tie got hung in her mouth on its way over her head.

Soul gawked at first, and a different sort of throb started up in the front. He hissed and finally slapped a hand over his eyes as Blair got her claws into the bottom of Maka's shirt and started trying to pull it over her head.

"Okay…uh…you ladies figure it out…I'm just gonna…" He sputtered, standing and making his way to his own room blindly.

He closed the door behind him. There was no way he was going to catch sight of Maka naked. He didn't know if his already tenuous hold on sanity could handle it.

* * *

Author's Note:

Hello everyone! Sorry for the slight hiatus, real life caught up with me temporarily. Yay.

Anyways, Here is the newest installment, I hope you all enjoy it. It's quite similar to the original scene I know, but I tweaked and twisted it into my own version and certainly had fun doing so.

And yes, I am aware that the angel wings thing is perhaps a little cheesy...sue me. I happen to like wings. I'm re-watching Fairy Tail right now, and got the idea from Erza's armor. (might wanna keep your eyes peeled for Fairy Tail fanfiction down the pike...anyone interested?) ;D

So there ya go. Hopefully life will settle down and I'll do my best to keep updating every week on the weekends. Getting reviews also helps, it lets me know that people are enjoying it (otherwise there's really no point to me continuing is there?) On that note: A HUGE thanks to everyone who has reviewed, you are all absolutely amazing. :D

Bye for now! See you all next week. ;D

*poof* (author disappears dramatically)


	10. Chapter 10

Maka and Soul both took some time to recover from their injuries after the battle before taking on any new assignments. But that was fine, because Maka's time ended up being spent in another way. Unofficially, she became the supervisor and guide for Crona…after he had been put on probation. For the first week, he had been locked up in the cells at the DWMA, but as was often the case with Lord Death, he had made the decision relatively quickly to "forgive" Crona. Of course he had to be accompanied whenever he wasn't in his cell.

Originally Sid had been assigned to the young pink haired person, but a zombie turned out to be more than the timid boy could deal with. He freaked out whenever he saw Sid, and eventually Lord Death had called upon Maka to visit with him and see if she could bring him out of his shell somewhat. Considering that she had already been visiting his cell and talking with him through the door, it was a wise choice. As it turned out, it was the _only_ choice, because at first Crona wouldn't talk to anyone but Maka.

Even with her, it took some convincing before he agreed to come out of the cell, and even more to get him to try becoming a probationary student at the academy. He tailed her closely, and if anyone dared to try and talk to him he would hide behind her. Slowly though, he grew more accustomed to her friends, and eventually after a week or so he was able to speak with them, though Black Star consistently startled him and caused him to shy away. He was like a stray - a skinny, frail, malnourished, unloved baby kitten… who had imprinted on Maka. Or perhaps he was more like a duckling with the way he followed her around.

It was kind of adorable. To Maka at least. As for Soul, he had expressed something of an irritation with the boy, almost as if he was jealous of the attention she gave him. But he put up with the pinkette, and eventually accepted him as part of their group.

Understandably, this got in the way of going out and completing assignments for a time.

It was several weeks before the blond and albino pair found themselves walking into a town that seemed to be composed entirely of brick buildings with an overabundance of chimneys. The profusion of chimneys made sense, given that this was a place which housed golem makers, and they largely made those golems in kilns. Alongside them walked a certain pink-haired person, who was cringing his way forwards next to Maka rather closely.

Crona was on his first probational mission, and accompanied Soul and Maka as they made their way through the small town, asking passersby if they had heard about or come across any sign of an out-of-control golem. For being a rather homey looking town, the citizens were anything but friendly, and none of them seemed to want to talk to the DWMA students sent here to take care of the problem.

"You'd think if there was a crazy destructive golem on the loose, people would want us to get rid of it for them." Soul grumbled after some time, his hands shoved extra-deep in his pockets. That was a sure sign of both boredom and irritation… as was his slouched posture and sharp-toothed grimace.

"This is a very self-contained village it seems. We're outsiders here, so I suppose it's understandable that they wouldn't want to talk to us." Maka observed.

Her partner just grunted in response and Crona of course remained silent.

Maka of course knew that a part of her mission here was to watch Crona for any signs of deception out in the field, but couldn't really bring herself to believe her new friend would do anything to betray them. As a meister though, she had her duties, and would have to watch him.

The worst thing he had done so far was for Ragnarok to pop out and argue with her when they went down to Crona's cell earlier today. The demon sword's attitude was nothing new, it was just as big as it had always been despite his diminished size. The change in stature didn't seem to have any impact at all on his personality. To be honest, she found the odd black and white creature cute, in a weird, slightly rude way, however she did draw the line at him flipping up her skirt. That had been his major transgression upon collecting the two of them, and had earned him a Maka Chop. Aside from that single incident though, neither of them had done anything even remotely suspicious or untoward.

The demon sword's host remained silent as they traversed the cobblestone roads, but Soul made up for it by complaining every now and then. The people here really were quite unhelpful, and even Maka found herself getting frustrated.

After a while, it seemed that maybe they weren't even needed here, and they were just contemplating leaving when they were pulled aside by someone who seemed slightly more talkative.

"Hey." The blond, pierced, tough looking guy greeted, gesturing them over. "I hear you've been looking for the out of control golem."

"Yes! If you have any information we would be very grateful!" Maka said in response, giving him a broad grin.

"Sure. I can do better than that. I can lead you to him."

"Really?! Thank you!"

They found themselves following the young man - Giriko he said his name was - all the way to the outskirts of the small city. He kept up a pleasant conversation all along the way, but even so, something about him set Soul's shark-teeth on edge. He didn't like that they had been lead so far, and he was suspicious about why this one person out of the entire population of golem-builders had been happy to lead them here. What was his motive?

Maka didn't need to be resonating with her weapon to know he was getting antsy. There was something that was bothering him, and she paid due attention. Even so, she was a little shocked when – after a few minutes of plodding along a forest path right at the edge of the city – he dug in his heels and stopped walking altogether.

"Okay…what's going on here exactly? Where are you taking us?" He very nearly spat, sounding unnecessarily aggressive.

Maka wasn't sure what had gotten under his skin, but even so that was uncalled for. Maybe he was picking up on something she wasn't, but their guide hadn't done anything yet to merit such a hostile and rude question. "Soul! Don't be so rude!" She admonished, getting a sharp-toothed scowl in response.

"Maka! He's leading us who-the-fuck-knows-where, and we don't know what his motives are! Why is he the only one who was willing to talk to us back there? Is he even from that town?"

"Oh yes…I'm from that town." Giriko said, but there was a note of something wrong in his voice. There wasn't any time to analyze that though, because almost immediately there was an enormous crash, one which shook the ground.

"What was that?!" Maka sputtered as she staggered a little.

"I guess there's no point in trying to hide it anymore…" Giriko chuckled, right as an enormous golem dressed in a pair of overalls busted from one of the few houses still dotting the path.

As the behemoth stepped out onto the cobblestones behind the trio, the golem enchanter continued, saying, "I made this golem 800 years ago." He laughed at their astonished looks and added, "Of course, the golem could live that long easily, but for me it was a bit more complex."

He sighed, seeming unnaturally happy as he spouted out his story - without any provocation. It was as if he'd been waiting for _years_ to tell someone… and he wasn't done yet. "I've passed my mind down through my children, using my skill with alchemy…and finally it's all about to be worth it."

The words coming out of his mouth were so outlandish it left the three students gaping at him in disbelief.

"Wh-what? 800 years? Why on earth would you want to live that long?"

Giriko turned eyes towards Maka, a disturbing grin spreading his lips wide and exposing a set of teeth as pointy as Soul's, though they were much smaller. "Why you ask? Well, for this moment of course! The plan originally was to build up enough power to take on Lord Death himself at that Academy you all come from, but the plans have changed. _She's_ awoken…"

"She? Who the hell is 'she'?" Soul muttered, frowning.

"I don't know, but I doubt she's anyone we want to meet." Maka replied with a grimace.

As she turned on her soul perception in preparation for a fight she could sense coming, the sight that met her very nearly made her take a few steps in retreat. This was just…wrong. Golems were basically computers, programmed to do their maker's bidding, but this one was different. Maka could distinctly see a soul wavelength coming from the thing, and the soul was wrong, dark, twisted. Looking at it, she could see what looked like legs of some sort protruding from the thing, almost like an aura in the shape of an insect, and it glowed black and red with insanity and bloodlust.

"Oh…shit. Soul…"

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Golems aren't supposed to have souls are they?" She knew good and well they weren't, but under the circumstances she felt the need to confirm that fact.

"No…why?"

She didn't have a chance to respond, because Giriko had heard them and was now grinning even wider, an edge of insanity making his soul shiver and crack as she watched. Because she had her soul perception in effect, she could see the transformation as he went from a normal looking soul to a twisted one, just as full of murderous intent and insanity as the golem … if not more so. There was a definite loss of control and an overabundance of frenetic unrestrained dark energy pulsing from him and warping his soul more and more as the seconds ticked by.

"So, you're a meister with the ability to see souls are you? Well, if I were you all, I would start saying my last words…"

His form seemed to fade to black, exposing gears and metal which then flew apart, making them all take a step back in shock.

"Soul!"

"On it!"

He transformed and his metal landed in her palm as the other weapon took shape in his golem's hand. Somehow, the form of a chainsaw didn't overly surprise Maka. It was very horror-movie-esque, right up this guy's alley apparently.

"I'm warning you now. If you attack, I will take your soul." Maka said, taking a stance with Soul. Crona hid behind them.

The mad weapon only howled with laughter. "Oh it's so good to be free! I've been stuck smiling and being nice for so long…how long? Oh right, 800 years! It's been so LONG! I can't even remember who I am…who am I again?"

This guy was certifiably insane, that much was crystal clear. But it didn't dull his attack any as he slammed down on top of Maka and Soul. She side-stepped the attack easily, letting the blade smash into the road mere inches to the left of her. What she hadn't counted on was the golem to reach down and yank on Giriko's engine cord, which started his motor with a roar. The toothed chain whipped into a frenzy, zipping around the blade at such an insane speed that the ground around him was instantly shredded and sent Maka staggering back.

He was a chain saw, so it should have followed that he would be able to do that, yet somehow it took them all by surprise. Perhaps it was because a weapon with a motor was … well it was weird.

Despite the sound and destructive force of that spinning blade, Maka attacked fearlessly, swinging Soul around her and coming in from the side to try and pierce the motor box. Soul's sharp tip glanced off the metal and he spun around quickly in her hand to block the returning blow. Blocking turned out to be impossible though, because the spinning teeth just snagged Soul and kicked him away violently. It was everything Maka could do to hang onto Soul and throw herself to the side at the same time, ducking into a roll and landing on her feet.

"So…direct attacks are not going to work against this guy…If only we had a long range attack…"

"Well, you do have Crona's sonar arrows." Ragnarok mentioned almost casually, and Maka glanced over at the little demon who was once again perched on Crona's shoulders. He had apparently emerged to watch the battle. At her look he was quick to add, "Of course we're just observers, there's no way we would help you." There was a pause and then he added, "Not even for three pieces of candy…"

Grunting, Maka dodged another attack and yelled breathlessly from the other side of the golem, "I'll give you four!"

"I said no! Do I look like a baby? I don't want any candy!" The fickle weapon yelled back.

"Fifteen! Fifteen pieces!" Maka tried, dodging a swing and ending up at Crona's side again.

"It's not about the amount!"

"I'll give you as much candy as you want!" Maka finally screamed, readying herself for the next downswing of that monstrous blade.

She didn't have to dodge this time though, because the screaming metal teeth instead slammed into Ragnarok's arm as he zipped in between them, carried by Crona.

"Maka Albarn, you know how to bargain! It pays to strike a deal don't you think?"

The chainsaw blade seemed highly irritable at the new opponent he was suddenly faced by, and growled, "My first setting doesn't tear you apart!? How disappointing."

Ragnarok knocked the blade aside easily.

Crona didn't seem interested in the deal struck by Ragnarok, but now that his weapon was on board he was fully interested in protecting Maka.

"You aren't going to hurt Maka. If you're angry and don't know what to do with your emotions, maybe you could try writing a poem. We can write one together…"

Maka could feel Soul's mirth and caught a glimpse of his reflection doubled over in laughter. She had recently suggested that very thing to Crona, though it wasn't for anger so much as it was for his overwhelming anxiety, and she certainly hadn't ever expected for the topic to come back in this manner. It was undeniably funny, but Maka couldn't spare any attention on it, she had to focus on the next possible attack and how she was going to try and defeat this thing. With Crona and Ragnarok's help, hopefully they'd be able to somehow manage.

They battled the golem and Giriko for a few minutes, and the only plan Maka could think of that might work would be for her to attack the golem while Crona kept Mr. Saw-Happy busy. Her pink-haired friend was already engaging the sawed part of the equation, so all Maka had to do was wait for an opening and go for the golem's exposed side. Hopefully, if she could disable the mountain of rocks wielding him, Giriko wouldn't be able to fight.

"Maka, don't get too close! It's dangerous!" Soul scolded, already knowing what she was planning.

"It's the only way. Don't worry, I can handle it."

So saying, she finally spotted her opening and dashed in quick to slash at the golem's vulnerable side. She snapped Soul around her wrist once to gain an extra iota of momentum and then slammed him blade-first into the rock creature, slicing a gouge several feet deep into the thigh and hip. He creaked and groaned, swaying in place as that leg cracked along the injury.

The attack would have been entirely successful, if it weren't for a mass of white misty stuff spraying out of the gaping hole, hitting Maka strait on and coating her from head to toe. She sputtered and staggered back, moving fast because the behemoth was teetering in her direction.

"Are you okay!? What was that!?" Soul yelled, his reflection franticly attempting to look her over and his soul's wavelength prodding at hers, searching for pain and any hint of injury.

Maka couldn't respond at that particular moment, because she was too busy tripping over herself getting out of the way as their opponent finally toppled over, landing with a great BOOM that shook the earth and sent bricks and cobblestones flying. Normally, Maka would have been able to dodge the event much smoother, but for some reason she lacked her normal precise control over her limbs, and that situation was speedily getting worse. It was all she could do to stagger and stumble back off the path, and then she keeled over entirely, losing all fine motor skills.

It didn't help that the aftereffects of the collision were just now upon them, and she got caught up in it as one of the rock creature's arms split off from its body upon impact and careened towards her. She couldn't move out of the way and it slammed into her, knocking her back with a good deal of force to fly into the wall.

With a gasp she hit the bricks of a nearby building, but managed to land on her feet. However, that didn't last for long, as suddenly her legs ceased to work and she fell, landing on her own weapon with an alarming amount of downward momentum. The collapse had been so unexpected to both partners, that he hadn't had a chance to catch her like he normally would have. She went from standing and wobbling to flat on her face in a mere second. Despite the odd clumsiness that had seemed to be a side-effect of being sprayed with that white stuff, she still hadn't expected the abrupt paralysis that washed over her in a wave, or how it suddenly sent her to her knees and then her face.

Landing on a scythe sharp enough to cut just about anything - including steel and rock - would normally spell death, but Soul instantly blunted his edge and tilted his blade so that it slid alongside her body instead of stabbing into it. He still ground against her hard enough though that his blunt blade cut through her clothes, but the instant he felt her skin meet his steel he curved away and blunted even more, refusing to cut her. The normally deadly edge slid along her skin harmlessly. Of course, he was already transforming anyways.

She landed on the ground mere seconds before she felt Soul pop into existence under her. Scrambling to get from beneath her with flailing arms and legs, her weapon managed to scoot himself until he was lying mostly next to her instead of underneath. Once there, he instantly rolled her onto her back, scooping her up in one arm and worriedly patting her cheek.

"Oi! Maka! Maka! What the hell is going on? You okay?"

"C-can't…move…" Even speaking turned out to be nearly impossible, because her lips and jaw were going stiff as well.

Soul blinked owlishly down at her, and then jerked around as a big explosion happened off to the left. The golem had collapsed already, and now Giriko was under his own power. Apparently, he had the ability to do so.

Crona stepped in front of them, solemnly stating. "I will protect you."

Soul didn't waste any more time on that, and decided to just trust Crona. He was a tough guy, despite being as thin as a splinter and having a waif-like attitude. He could handle himself. Maka likewise trusted Crona to do as he said, but was still shocked that her little duckling had stepped up to the challenge so readily. Despite the fact that he had already agreed to fight with them - alongside Ragnarok and his candy deal - it was still a bit of a surprise.

Soul had already turned back to focus all his attention on Maka. He quickly began searching her for a hint of what might be causing her sudden paralysis, and the answer became clear when his hand came away all sticky with what looked like very fine cobwebs.

Grimacing, he looked closer, and noted that they were all over her. "Damnit…you've got webs or something all over you. You think they may be the reason you can't move?"

Maka could only manage a grunt, but the answer was obviously yes. The most obvious solution was of course to wipe them off, and he set to the task with determination. His first goal was to clear her face, so he quickly started rubbing his palms over her cheeks, coming away with almost invisible sticky clear webs which he wiped on the grass next to them.

The first to realize the awkwardness of it was Maka, who found herself suddenly being scrubbed by Soul's palms. He started briskly, swiping at her cheeks like a parent trying to clean off the mess of food on a baby's face. That was weird, but not too bad, not until he got to the more delicate bits. He cleared her cheeks, forehead, jaw, and chin swiftly, but was forced to slow down a bit when he was confronted with the prospect of wiping her eyes. She could both see and feel the hesitation as his hands hovered slightly anxiously over her face. Very delicately, his surprisingly soft fingers lightly closed her eyelids - which by this point really needed to close since she couldn't do it herself and her eyes were getting painfully dry. That was a relief.

As his fingertips dusted over her eyes, very ,very gently, the highly sensitive skin responded in an almost ticklish manner. It was surprisingly intimate in a weird way, and if her body was capable of it, she probably would have flinched. She was certainly cringing on the inside. Their souls were still synchronized, and so she could very faintly feel Soul also cringing internally from the awkwardness of it. Their souls fluttered together with unease and discomfort.

His fingers left her eyes and then he was wiping her mouth. He wasn't as gentle as he had been with her eyes, but his fingers were slightly more considerate than his palms had been when swabbing the rest of her face. That was also incredibly strange, and left her lips tingling a little afterwards. With those parts done thankfully, he moved on, wiping down her neck. He was in fact a little too brisk, perhaps to make up for having to slow down on her face, and her throat convulsed a little as he made her feel like she had to cough. The motion indicated that he needed to be gentler, and thankfully he acquiesced. His movements slowed just a smidge and he used a more gentle pressure, but still moved as fast as possible.

That was a good thing, because it was clear that this stuff worked on a time table and the longer it was on you the longer you ended up being paralyzed. Since he had gotten to her face first, by the time he was getting to her arms she was beginning to have some control return to her face. It was still a struggle to be able to squint up at him, but she was able to manage it by the time he got to her hands. Wiping down her arms had been relatively quick, although he was very thorough and that slowed him down some. He didn't have to be particularly gentle with her arms, and that let him go fast.

The rough, fast strokes almost made her feel like she was getting a pat down by a police officer.

There was a distinctly contradictory response to his touching her like this. On the one hand, she was super comfortable with him - being his best friend, knowing him inside and out, and all that - but at the same time it was exceptionally awkward. With all those unfortunate feelings of hers for him, she couldn't help but get flustered at his hands on her, and made sure to shove all of that in the anti-Soul box inside her so he wouldn't pick up on the reason behind her discomfort.

Ironically, he was doing much the same, hiding any evidence that might alert her to his feelings on the matter in his closet.

To get her fingers he had to wipe at each one individually, the spider webs sticking to her gloves. In the end, it was simply easier to take her gloves off.

As he slid the white material off her palms, the webs tried to make it stick to her skin since apparently the unnatural material somehow oozed through the fabric to get to her, but with some effort Soul peeled them off. And that was the first time he came into contact with her scarred hands.

As he started taking off her first glove, Maka tensed. She had been hiding these scars on purpose, and though it was necessary to get the webs off, she still didn't really want her scars exposed. She didn't voice any protests though as he peeled the white material off, having to fight the webs some to get it to separate from her skin. For a second it seemed he would just move on to the next one without looking any closer, and Maka almost relaxed. But then the rough skin of one of her scars snagged the softer skin of his palm and he glanced back.

She could instantly tell when he registered what it was he had felt, and his crimson eyes flew wide as he grabbed her wrist and yanked it closer for inspection.

"Wh-what the?! Where did these come from?"

"Not now Soul, we don't have time." At his stern look she added, "Look, I promise to tell you later."

Gritting his sharp teeth, he let her hand flop back down – a bit harshly to show his irritation – and moved on to her other, proceeding to enter into battle with the glove on that hand too. He hissed when he finally managed to yank it free and saw the same sort of scars on that hand as well. Red eyes glared at her in a reproachful manner, but he didn't try to get any answers out of her this time thankfully, just moved to try and wrangle her coat off her as well.

Really, getting as many clothes off as possible was the best course of action, but being disrobed by Soul was almost worse than being patted down by him. She beat down the flush that was trying to rise on her cheeks by thinking the most boring thoughts possible, mainly homework related. Getting the buttons on her trench coat undone was even made difficult by sticky spider webs, and Soul was obviously having a heck of a time finagling them. It was amazing that he somehow managed to get her coat open without simply ripping off the buttons.

To get it off of course was something of a circus though. Soul tackled her left arm first, slipping his hand under the jacket to grab her shoulder and lift while simultaneously yanking on the sleeve with his other hand to try and pull it off. It took some doing, but eventually he managed to peel it off. With the new slack in the material, it was easier to get the other sleeve off, though it was still a bit of a production. Then all that was left was to yank it out from under her, which again, was easier said than done.

Finally though, it was off and Soul tossed it aside with her gloves to get to work on her sweater vest.

The more layers he removed, the more and more awkward it was for Maka, and the sweater vest was yet another step into the land of uncomfortable. The coat had been one thing, but the vest was way too close to a shirt – especially with the way it had to be removed – and that tried to bring up all sorts of thoughts that she simply refused to possess in her brain files.

She tried to disengage her mind from the situation as Soul yanked on the bottom hem of the cream material and started tugging it up. Her arms had to be rearranged over her head at some point, and about the same time Soul found it necessary to hold onto the hem of her white button down to hold it in place while he peeled the cream vest off, so that her last shirt wouldn't be taken with it.

The soft material was stuck to her face for a while as the collar hung on her pigtails, and Soul started cussing under his breath as he wrangled her hair and the collar and her button down and her arms all at the same time. Somehow, he managed to eventually free the vest and toss it onto the growing pile of clothes with a snarl.

That was all the clothes that they could remove without it getting inappropriate – not that this whole exercise hadn't been inappropriate in Maka's opinion.

But nevertheless, there was more inappropriateness to be had because… "Uh…Soul? My legs are going numb."

"What?!"

"I think if it stays on long enough it actually starts making me numb…"

"Shit."

Without preamble he started attacking her bare legs, beginning at her knees and going down, like a really rushed calf massage. All Maka could do really was lay there, stare up at the brick of the building behind them, and wonder what the hell they'd done to deserve this.

It only got worse from there, because it wasn't long before he had managed to briskly clear the webs off her calves and had to travel into less stable territory. A wince seemed really appropriate for when the warmth of his hands traveled up to her thighs, but of course she was incapable of the movement. The slight numbness turned out to be a blessing, because though she could feel warmth and pressure, she couldn't feel all the nuances of his palms sliding over her skin the way she normally would have.

He averted his gaze as his fingers disappeared up under her skirt to make sure the tops of her thighs were clear and hadn't caught any flying cobwebs during her maneuvering.

It seemed he also had the benefit of numbness. "I think you're right…my hands are starting to go numb too."

"Hmm…"

That explained why his swipes were getting clumsy.

So clumsy in fact that it wasn't altogether surprising when he missed his mark high on her thigh at one point and very nearly swatted her groin area. That got a flinch from both their souls, but Soul didn't apologize, since he was probably trying to pretend it hadn't happened. Maka was fine with that. It seemed like an excellent strategy for getting through this with their sanity intact.

It was sort of ironic really. Maka had handled him, wielded him so long, and was so comfortable with her hands being all over every part of his weapon form, and yet she was having so much trouble having his hands on her. To be fair though, she probably would have problems dealing with his human body, but somehow she thought even that would be preferable to this.

Her mind was being utterly uncooperative as his much too warm palms dared to venture her inner thighs, very close to her panty line, in a manner that would have her Maka Chopping him at least five times were this not a battle field and necessary for survival probably. Why were his hands so impossibly warm anyways? Were his hands blushing? Was that a thing?

Maka gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes closed, doing her damndist to keep all her inappropriate feelings locked up tight and away from open air-space where Soul might accidentally catch one.

The very brief thought somehow snuck through her iron defenses and accosted her with, ' _It's almost like he's wielding me…'_ which sparked a much, much worse brief image of a different, even less innocent version of him _wielding her body._ This time she did somehow manage a very slight cringe as her muscles started working slightly in her arms and shoulders. She knew that the word 'wielding' may never have quite the same feel to it anymore and she cursed herself for having too big of a brain which apparently also translated to dirty thoughts.

A battle field was no place to be thinking those sorts of things, especially when her partner's fingers were disturbingly close to a certain part of her that might just give her away if she wasn't careful.

For his part, Soul was blessedly ignorant of exactly why so much heat was present there, or why the space beneath her skirt was growing warmer.

All he knew was that with the clumsiness getting worse, he couldn't risk leaving his fingers anywhere he may accidentally bump something he most definitely did not want to. Except …. there were some parts of him that very much did want him too. Which only made it worse. So after a few more shaky passes, he withdrew his hands with a sigh of relief. Wiping his palms and fingers on the grass once again, he patted down her skirt next, trying to just get the material and not her body underneath as much as possible, but there were some places where he simply had to come into contact with her.

She didn't – couldn't, he supposed – flinch when his hands made a rough pass over her hips and lower abdomen, dangerously close to where he knew curly hair would be, based on the few dirty pictures he had seen. He wasn't really one to look at porn, probably because he and Maka had paired up right around the time he would have started, and after that it felt weirdly close to cheating on her. Not that he had always had feelings of a romantic flavor for his meister, but it felt like a betrayal since he knew that it was one thing she didn't really condone.

That had been a weird conversation.

But the few pictures he had seen were courtesy of the other males in his class, who sometimes left them lying around.

And those pictures had let him know that he was traversing really dangerous territory here - the kind of territory that (were it in the real world) it would be rife with volcanos, earthquakes, tornadoes, and blizzards. Not that he thought Maka's…area would be deadly or anything, just that she herself would kill him later for getting too close to it. Like a Garden of Eden protected by some sort of mythical dragon…. except in this case the garden and dragon were the same being.

The fact that he had thought of her as a garden at all was disturbing and went to show that this whole process had affected him in a bad way. He did not need to be thinking or touching anywhere near these places on his meister's body. He wasn't sure he'd be able to look Maka in the eye for a week.

He had to constantly remind himself that cool guys did not blush.

After that, it was up her muscular stomach he went, and then he balked upon reaching her chest area. Clearing his mind, he managed one really large, clumsy, and mostly numb pass over her entire chest and torso, and repeated it once, and then once more, and then he was done because he had reached maximum exposure.

It was right around this time when things went very, very wrong.

Crona had been holding the chainsaw dude off easily enough with his black blood and Ragnarok's screeching attacks, but something much worse began to happen. Maka was the first to see it and managed to lever herself ever so slightly onto shaking arms, startling Soul into entering a hands-in-the-air position of surrender. He had just removed his hands from her and half expected her to Maka-Chop the living daylights out of him – despite the fact that she hadn't once protested his handsy approach to dealing with her spider web problem.

Instead, she unsteadily craned her neck around him to stare at something with widening eyes, and that prompted Soul to hesitantly relocate his gaze as well. He almost regretted doing so when he was greeted by the sight of thousands…no…millions… if not _billions_ of teeny tiny spiders all rushing across the ground to swarm over the fallen form of the golem.

"The soul!" Maka gasped…seeing something Soul couldn't.

"Uh, the one in the golem?"

"It's…it's…what is it doing?!" She sputtered, squinting in confusion.

"I don't know! I'm not the one with soul perception! You wanna be a bit more specific!?"

The spiders were forming a mass, one that was quickly taking a completely new form, that of a woman. Soul got somewhat distracted from what Maka was saying as this new lady figure popped out of the swarm.

"The soul moved to her…" Maka whispered, and suddenly Soul understood. Well, not really, but he understood a little bit more about the situation.

It was clarified for them when Giriko explained that this woman's name was Arachne, and she was a witch who had been hiding in there for 800 years and had only recently woken when the Kishin's madness stirred her. That was fantastic enough, but the fact that she was the first person to ever create a demon weapon was very nearly unbelievable…as was the fact that all those spiders had been spying on just about everything going on in the world for the past 8 centuries as well.

It was awfully polite of a crazy murderous madman to go to the trouble of explaining it all for them. Then again, he had already proven to be unnaturally verbose.

This witch-person turned knowing eyes to them and said in a silky voice, "Soul…Maka…I have been watching you as well…"

Both teens instantly possessed a bad case of the creeps, and their skin crawled as if those spiders were skittering across them.

"For instance…I know that you were rubbing cream into those scars last night in an attempt to make them go away Maka."

The meister in question jumped and clasped her hands tightly (as much as she could with the slight paralysis still affecting her) to try and hide the scars, a scowl heavy on her face. Soul sent her another sharp look in reference to the still unexplained blemishes.

It was his turn next though.

"And Soul…I know that after watching that movie you didn't go into your room to just lie down and nurse a headache as you told Maka. You went to _relieve_ yourself." Arachne quirked a brow and the edge of her black lips curled in a sadistically pleased way.

Maka wasn't sure she had ever seen Soul turn quite so red before or lose his cool so completely. It was pretty obvious – based on his reaction – just what the witch meant by 'relieve himself.' She had suspected as much, since he had gotten slightly antsy after the love scene in the middle of the movie they watched last night, but she certainly hadn't needed the confirmation. That was one image she did not need clouding her mind, especially not right now after having his hands on her so thoroughly.

She also did not appreciate the way this witch was looking at _her_ Soul. Undoubtedly she had seen hundreds, probably thousands of men and women masturbating over the centuries that she spent as a spider on the wall…there was no need for her to pick on Maka's poor weapon.

"Hey! That's just rude and unnecessary!" The infuriated meister spoke up in Soul's defense, causing him to tense a little.

She could feel that he was exceptionally uncomfortable and embarrassed, and so was she for that matter.

Before the witch could reveal any more of their secrets, yet another newcomer popped up out of nowhere, and everyone stared at what appeared to be a priest with earbuds lodged firmly in his ears.

As it turned out, he ended up being a Death Scythe sent by Lord Death to take care of the witch, and he entered into battle with the enemy, without much of an introduction really. Of course speaking to the guy turned out to be difficult, since apparently he couldn't hear anything with those earbuds stuck in his ears. It wasn't until later that they found out he could read lips – and just said "huh?" to things when he didn't feel like talking.

Arachne disappeared while the priest was fighting Giriko. Soul, Crona, and Maka all thought that was probably the smart idea. The two power house weapons were amazing to watch but the rest of them were all in the line of fire if they stuck around.

Maka couldn't really go anywhere, so with Crona's assistance, she was draped over her partner's back, piggyback style. Soul wrapped his arms under her legs and propped her weight on his wrists – instead of his hands the way a normal piggybacker would do, because his hands were officially asleep and refused to wake back up. Crona stayed behind them and placed his palms on her back to help her stay on, muttering, "Oh no, I don't know how to deal with this…" repeatedly under his breath.

In that slightly awkward and unorthodox manner they scampered off to let the professionals handle this one. It was blatantly obvious that they were at a completely different level, and while it inspired Maka and Soul to both get stronger - strong enough to fight on that caliber someday - it was also a bad idea to be in their vicinity.

* * *

Author's Note:

Hello All!

I hope everyone enjoyed my take on this little misadventure. :D

As always, thank you for all your wonderful reviews.


	11. Chapter 11

Nighttime the next day found a certain meister and weapon in hospital beds back at the DWMA.

After the golem fiasco, the new guy (a Death Scythe named Justin Law) had finished up business, although both enemies had gotten away apparently, and he had helped truck Maka and Soul back to Death Academy in the coffin/trailer attached to his motorcycle. Of course that left Crona to try and finagle Soul's motorcycle. It had been a tense, noisy drive, especially with Soul yelling instructions and warnings back at Crona, who somehow managed to get the orange machine back in one piece despite wobbling all over the road and muttering, "I don't know how to deal with this," the entire way back.

At least Ragnarok had had a good time.

After getting back, they had been promptly housed in the infirmary - where Maka soon found herself bed-laden. Apparently Soul had missed some important muscles in her groin and upper thigh region that greatly affected her balance and ability to walk properly, along with a few in her chest that limited her arm mobility. But like hell was he going to touch her in those places, not right after he had discovered his little crush for her, and she certainly hadn't complained the decision.

Soul was there because his hands had gone utterly and completely numb and unresponsive, which limited his options for just about everything.

They had both slept like rocks when first arriving that night, but the next morning they woke up to mayhem and fiasco as their friends made an early appearance. It just sucked that the next day was Saturday, because it meant a constant flow of friends coming to visit, and the large majority of them were more annoying than the numbness.

Black Star in particular seemed intent on being a pest. He had not only been his normal, loud, obnoxious self – which was bad enough when someone was trying to recover in the hospital – but he also took indecent advantage of Maka and Soul's predicament. Since their ability to dodge or fight back had been greatly limited, he amused himself by pissing them both off in various ways.

Patty was likewise a handful. She kept wanting to draw on their faces and do other various things that neither of them appreciated.

Kid though - and his insistence on rearranging everything in the medical ward to be perfectly symmetrical - had been a heavy contester as well.

The only breath of fresh air from the madness was Tsubaki, and she had been very helpful - even moving their beds together so that Maka would be able to try and help Soul with everything he couldn't do.

So by nighttime, they were relieved to be left alone and exhausted.

Maka sighed, staring up at the hospital ceiling for a moment before gathering the parts of her she still had some control over and muscling herself back up into a sitting position propped up against her pillows. Glancing over, she noted Soul's sullen expression and his surly pose as he slumped in the bed pushed up next to hers. He was still a bit sore over Black Star managing to sign both their foreheads.

Rolling her eyes, she reached over for the tray of food that had been sitting next to her untouched for a while. It was still fresh enough to be safe to eat, but some of it had congealed while other things had lost all warmth. Still, it was better than nothing, and that was precisely what Soul had ingested today…nothing. He refused to be spoon fed by any of their friends, and hadn't let her do it in front of them either. She was curious to see if he would let her now that they were the only ones left in the mostly dark infirmary. There was a single lamp casting shadows from the desk area across the room from them, but otherwise it was dim. However there was just enough light to see what she was doing.

"Hey Soul, you wanna eat now?"

His stomach answered for him, a loud growl resounding throughout the room.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes." She chuckled and scooped up some stiff mashed potatoes with a spork, the only utensil given to them.

He grimaced. "Maka…."

"Come on Soul, it's just the two of us. No one has to know."

A little trail of drool appeared at one corner of his lips and he glanced at the plate of food in her lap, then at the spork already laden with spuds, and then back at her face, a plaintive expression in his red eyes. He sucked the drool back in to his mouth with a hissing sound, but it was pointless since the moisture was shortly preplaced.

"Look, how would you feel if I couldn't feed myself and I refused to let you feed me?"

He winced and stared at her hand and the utensil and food. After a long pause, he said something surprising. "Okay. But if I do then you have to tell me about your scars."

It was her turn to wince. She shouldn't have been surprised, he had been hounding her off and on throughout the day, but they had been constantly interrupted by visitors so she'd been able to escape without explaining. Now though, it was just the two of them and there were no more distractions to save her.

Knowing Soul, he could be surprisingly stubborn sometimes, and she figured this might be one of those times. He probably would refuse to eat if she refused…and technically she _had_ promised to tell him…so with a heavy sigh, she agreed. "Okay, but only after you eat."

He finally nodded. Before he could change his mind, she shoved the fork forwards and popped it into his mouth almost before it was fully open. It was perhaps overeager on her part, and his eyes widened on a yelp as he flinched back a little with shock. Then he choked on the potatoes.

"Sorry! Here, I'll be more gentle." She quickly sputtered, horrified and amused at the same time.

He just glared sullenly at her, but still opened his mouth when she very gently presented another forkful of potatoes. She didn't even put it in his mouth this time, she just held it there and let him bob forwards to eat it himself. That seemed to make him a little happier, and he obviously appreciated that she wasn't truly _'feeding'_ him so much as she was just _'presenting'_ the food for him to eat.

They continued this activity for a few minutes, Soul grumbling about the state of the food just a little, but it didn't seem to damper his enthusiasm for it at all. It was almost difficult for Maka to keep up with his ravenous appetite, and she was sure she heard and felt a few ominous creaks and pops from the somewhat flimsy plastic utensil as his teeth snagged it more than once.

Once all the food had disappeared into his bottomless cavern of a mouth, Maka placed the tray aside and leaned back against her pillows with a sigh. It was a strain on her working muscles to compensate for the ones out of commission.

"Hey….thanks Maka."

"No problem."

There was a pause, and then Soul spoke up … as she knew he would. "Alright, now it's your turn."

She groaned, but knew she'd have to make good on her promise. "Fine." She paused for a moment to try and figure out how to say it, but eventually decided there wasn't really any good way to explain the situation without upsetting him. So she just went for it. "Do you remember that room of candles Stein put us in to try and get us to…I dunno…talk or something?"

She heard him nod and saw him do so out of the corner of her eye. "Oh yeah. Never gonna forget that."

"Right. Well afterwards…we were out of sync. When we fought Free on that bridge a week or whatever later, I couldn't wield you."

He jumped in, impatient as usual. "Wait, but you _did_ wield me. What do you mean?"

"If you'd let me finish…I was going to say that holding you burned me. That's why I dropped you, it hurt to touch you."

"I…burned you?"

"Well yes. We were out of sync. It's like when Black Star tried to wield you and couldn't pick you up because you were too heavy. For me, you were too hot."

"But…you still…"

"Yeah. I still wielded you. And doing so burned my hands pretty bad. We didn't have a choice. Anyways, it got our souls back in sync by the end of the battle, so it was worth it."

"Lemme see." He reached over and placed his limp noodle of a hand on her arm, and obviously would have grabbed her if he could.

She pulled back. "No. It's bad enough you saw them once. I don't want you to have to see them again."

She was wearing gloves again now.

"Why did you hide them? Why are you _still_ hiding them?" he asked, sounding on the edge of anger.

"I'm…I guess I'm ashamed of them. They show how weak I was, to let myself get out of sync with you because of some stupid…" _Feelings,_ she finished mentally, but didn't say it. Instead she replaced it with, "…exercise. Besides that, I knew you'd feel bad. You'd feel responsible. Which - by the way - isn't true. I do not hold you responsible for my injuries."

"Obviously. You're beating yourself up way too much though. It was both of us who got out of sync. But that'll never happen again."

"Actually it could. Sometimes weapons and meisters go out of sync multiple times over the course of their partnership."

"Whatever. If it happens then we'll deal with it, but we'll do it without you burning yourself next time alright? So no going into battle while we're out of sync."

"Deal." She easily agreed.

They lay in silence after that, both of them super aware of the other next to them. Actually, it was about time for bed now, so Maka slid down from the pillows and lay out fully. It wasn't like they hadn't slept in the same room before. They had done it last night after all, though that was different since they had been so exhausted that they both conked out practically as their heads hit their respective pillows. Before that, they had of course spent the night in hotel rooms while on missions plenty of times, so this shouldn't be different. But somehow it was.

Maka figured that she was so aware of Soul because she now knew about the crush beating at her breastbone. Somehow that magnified her senses to the point she could hear his breathing and the soft little rustles as he shifted under his blankets, could feel a slight bump as his bed shifted under his weight when he rolled onto his side, could sense the warmth of his body heating up the space inside their privacy curtain.

Of course she had no way of knowing that he was facing the same predicament.

Understandably it took them both a while to get anywhere near the vicinity of sleep, but eventually all lights must go out and all things up must come down. The weight of sleep tugged at Maka insistently, and eventually she succumbed, her mind drifting and loosening to be relaxed upon a sea of odd mismatched random thoughts. Something warm began to thrum to life inside her, a vibration alongside her own soul that she didn't recognize as a low-grade resonance until Soul's presence took place in her dream world. She began to catch glimpses of his own near-sleep thoughts, which consisted of flying potatoes and Black Star chasing him around with a marker.

That finally dragged her back to mid-awake status, and she blinked, realizing that the odd-ball thoughts were not her own. Chuckling, she rolled onto her side to face Soul and whispered, "Hey. Stop dreaming about flying potatoes. It's distracting."

He ' _mmmphed_ ' and sleepy red eyes that appeared almost black in the dim light opened to peer blearily at her.

"Mwha?"

"Flying potatoes."

Confusion colored his gaze and then realization dawned. "The fuck? I was resonating with you?"

She nodded her head, snickering lightly as he flushed.

"Uh…what exactly did you see?"

Wondering what exactly he was worried about her seeing, she responded with, "Nothing much, just Black Star and some potatoes flying around. It was weird."

Relief was plain to see for a second on his face, up until she asked, "So…why do you ask? Was there something you didn't want me to see?"

He flushed, confirming the thought. "N-no, not really." At her disbelieving look he altered his tune. "Well, there's some personal shit in there I'd rather you didn't stumble across."

She could understand that well enough. After all, the last thing she would want would be for Soul to run into any of the dreams that starred her father being a cheating son of a bitch, or any of the nightmares where she got Soul killed. Not to mention the strangely charged dreams of Soul that had her waking up blushing and confused.

"Yeah, I understand."

He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and wilted back into his mattress, showing how he had tensed up.

After a long moment of silence, Maka had almost drifted off again, but was reawakened when there were repeated shuffling sounds from Soul's bed. She cracked an eye open to see Soul squirming around, rubbing his chest with a wrist and looking very displeased.

After a moment of just observing this odd phenomenon, Maka finally asked, "So, uh, what are you doing?"

He froze and slowly turned to look at her, a flush tinging his cheeks and a slightly sheepish expression smacked across his face. "Uh….I have an itch."

She blinked, processing his answer for a full minute before beginning to snicker just a little. When he scowled at her she was quick to shut the sound off though.

"Sorry. You need a hand?"

He said, "No," at first. Then after a minute of disgruntled glaring, he grimaced and started messing with himself again. "Damn it all! It's like as soon as I figured out I can't scratch it, it just gets so much worse and won't go away."

"Yeah, kind of like when someone says not to think about something, suddenly that's all you can think about."

He grunted in agreement, but focused on rubbing at his chest.

After a moment Maka sighed and just reached over, knocked his hand out of the way, and scratched firmly where he had been rubbing. That got a groan and then a sigh out of him. Maka intently ignored how the sounds made her gut clench up in an interesting way, and focused on scrubbing her short nails into him through his t-shirt for a minute. Once she felt it might be edging into the realm of probably painful, she gave him a little pat.

There was a satisfied sigh and Soul murmured, "Thanks…"

"Yeah. No problem."

After another few minutes, Maka figured out that she should have removed her hand, but somehow it was embarrassing to do now. She had already left her palm flat against his chest for too long, getting caught up in the feel of the beat of his heart under her hand, and now withdrawing the weight of her offending appendage was sure to draw attention. So she ended up stuck, getting more and more awkward and embarrassed and feeling like she should remove her hand, but incapable of doing so for the same reasons.

The skin under her palm slowly warmed, and the steady thumping increased ever so slightly as he realized the same thing. There was a slight hiccup in the rhythm when her fingers unconsciously twitched, and she winced, finally gathering up the courage to yank her hand back. She did so, and clutched the deviant limb to her chest, almost as if it would hop back over there with a mind of its own. There was an awkward moment of silence, and then Maka finally cleared her throat and said, "I think I'm going to go to sleep now. Goodnight Soul."

"Yeah, g'night Maka." He mumbled back, sounding about as awkward as she felt.

Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the infirmary ceiling and willed herself to sleep. With closed eyes, and forced deep breathing, she attempted over and over, but no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't fall asleep. The feel of Soul's heartbeat thumped against her mind, burning her with annoyance and frustration and feelings she wasn't ready to face head on. Her crush had gotten out of hand when her back was turned, and now it was beyond a pain.

It just didn't seem fair. Why did she have to fall for her partner of all people? Anyone else and she could have avoided them, but Soul…there was no way she could - and would never, ever want to anyways. He was almost a part of her, an intrinsic puzzle piece in her life.

But during that drawn out moment, when her hand had rested on his chest, something had sparked to life within her, lighting the crush up like a brush fire that was impossible to extinguish. There had been a single point in time, when his eyes glanced over and met hers, where everything had been breathless and static charged. It had felt as though if she moved they would have both been electrified. The urge to kiss him had struck her like lightning, along with the realization that they were alone, at night, essentially in the same bed.

It had been so sudden and unexpected for her. Sure, she had known she had a crush on him for all of two or three months now, but that hadn't exactly translated to meaning – " _I want to kiss you right now_ " in her mind. She had been so caught up in the fallout of realizing she had developed feelings for him that she hadn't even considered the possibility of these sorts of desires and urges ever presenting themselves and being a problem. It only made sense though, and she was left kicking herself for not having predicted it.

No wonder she had caught herself staring at him absentmindedly lately, caught unawares by the sudden hypnotic possibilities of his mouth, or the pulse beating at his neck, or the way the wind caressed his white hair against his cheek…small moments, brief stoppages in time composed of her breathing and beating heart and Soul. It hadn't clicked then, but now it fell into place with a clang that shook her to her very core. She didn't just have a crush on him, she _wanted_ him too.

Her feelings were no longer some static thing sitting idly in her in a dark closet - no they had morphed into a living breathing thing with wants and needs and thoughts that plagued her mind and kept sleep far from attainability. Anything even remotely to do with romantic intimacy had always unsettled her somewhat. Seeing other people do it, on tv or in real life, didn't bother her at all, although it sometimes mildly irritated her. But even the slightest thought of doing anything herself had always made her grimace and cringe. She had never wanted to do anything physically intimate with anyone before…ever…and it was distinctly unnerving.

Who would have imagined that all it would take to awaken such thoughts and feelings was just feeling his blood pulsing through his heart under her palm. It was such a common thing - a heartbeat - it was merely a constant bodily function, much like breathing and digestion. Cells were constantly multiplying, hair was constantly growing, and the heart was constantly beating, so why had it all of a sudden struck her with the force of lightning?

She listened to Soul's breathing change, the normal pattern switching to a deeper slower one, punctuated by occasional snuffles or slurps as he drooled on his pillow. It was a soothing sound, one she had slept beside for years now on missions and when they fell asleep together on the couch after a movie-thon. It spoke of companionship and warmth and leftover popcorn and hotel rooms and drool stains.

Yet tonight, it was another thing that tormented her, reminding her of the fact that he was not just her partner, but was also her friend, and she was so many shades of fucked up that pursuing any sort of relationship was unthinkable. All those insecurities and trust issues and fear of cheating and every other little thing that came from having divorced parents and a serial-cheater as a father…they would ruin him. It would all be taken out on him and crush him under the weight of the baggage she had lugged around with her since childhood.

There was no way she could ever risk losing his friendship over something as silly as a little, really annoying, exceptionally persistent crush…which was starting to feel like less of a crush and more of something even worse.

It was a very long night, spent pondering her heart and its unlucky choices, and she woke with dark circles under her eyes from a fitful and light sleep.

By the next day, they were both regaining some feeling, and had been discharged. However, they got the day off, which was lucky since both of them needed showers, fresh changes of clothes, and in Maka's case, a little more sleep.

It didn't take long for them to have a full recovery, by which point they were back in classes. Things began picking up speed around the DWMA, as news spread like a malevolent disease about a new witch organization called Arachnophobia. There was no doubt as to who had started it, and Maka hadn't been able to quite get over the guilt of knowing that they had let her get away, just like the Kishin. It was blatantly obvious that they needed more training, so it came as a relief that training did indeed pick up intensity as the teachers all buckled down on their students to get them prepared for the inevitable battle with this new foe.

It seemed that Arachne for some reason had taken a liking to magic weapons, according to the news, as she began to collect them left and right. There were new missions posted on the board every day, each of them involving the capture of a magic weapon. It was obvious that the thought behind this was to try and get as many of them as possible first, to keep them from her spidery grasp.

Nobody knew for sure what her goal was in collecting all those magical tools, but one thing was clear. Her actions distinctly spelled out that she was preparing for war.

So they all buckled down and got to work, training harder than ever.

They learned dual resonance, which was not fun for Maka, since resonance with just Soul had been hard enough on her. Dual resonance was the resonating of a team of meisters, to increase all their souls' wavelengths to a maximum. As for Maka, she would be teaming with Kid and Black Star and their weapon partners. But it was very difficult for her to complete, considering her issues. It was something that needed to be done though, because there was little to no chance of winning without it.

At the very least, dual resonance wasn't nearly as deep as meister/weapon resonance. They could feel everyone else's soul, and sense their emotions, but that was it. There was no soul searching, no hopping from soul-space to soul-space, no melding of souls into one … none of that. It was just a way for them all to join wavelengths together and make everyone more powerful. It was still more intimate than Maka was comfortable with - which resulted in her breaking the resonance many times at first - but eventually they started getting a handle on it.

Which in and of itself was a near miracle, considering that the first time they attempted it in the classroom - with the addition of Ox - the entire exercise had devolved into a brawl.

Stein had been knocked over in his rolling chair. Ox had prodded Maka in the behind with his lightning spear. Black Star had been his normal destructive self. And Kid had ended up crying due to a lack of symmetry before blasting them all for the same reason.

That had prompted a full-out fight between Black Star and Kid, which everyone knew would end with Black Star losing and throwing an enormous hissy fit. But when Maka had tried to break them up, she had gotten sideswiped by a rogue punch, and then proceeded to lose her temper at them both and threw two perfect Maka Chops that dropped both boys to the floor.

Things had somewhat calmed after that, as Patty and Liz both popped back into human form - the younger sister raucously laughing while the older just tsked down at Kid disapprovingly. Black Star's weapon partner had shown a bit more kindness. Stein however, didn't show any sort of sympathy for any of them, and failed them as a group…which they fully deserved, considering his glasses had been cracked in the fall.

Things had gotten better with more practice, but it still proved challenging at times. Black Star and Maka particularly butted heads and often broke resonance when they tried to connect. Both were stubborn and hard headed, and Maka's soul would grow to be the same size as his when he tried to boss her around.

But…at the very least they were all getting stronger and preparing for the inevitable.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

And we have the next chapter ladies and gentlemen! This one was just cute fluff and relationship development, I hope you all enjoyed it. :D

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. You guys are awesome!


	12. Chapter 12

**Important! !Author's Warning!**

 ** _This chapter has a particularly disturbing scene in it that could upset some people. So, read with care._**

* * *

There were times in life where you wonder just how the heck you ended up here.

… This was one of those times.

Maka found herself, alone with Soul despite the fact that this was a two team mission – because Kid had blown a gasket over some symmetry problem….as usual. It was just lucky that Blaire had tagged along, because for once that annoying pussy cat was doing something useful. It turned out she was the queen of destruction and mayhem, in an exceptionally cute and tricksy way. Of course that was no surprise, though Maka was still a bit stunned at just how much damage she could do while still in cat form.

They had gotten entrapped into what turned out to be the official crazy factory - housing a clown of insanity and a simply insane man…who frankly looked like a scarecrow. Clowns and scarecrows were not exactly Maka's favorite things in the world; she hadn't ever been a huge Halloween fan to begin with. They didn't scare her the way they did some people, but they were undeniably creepy, especially when they were intentionally coming after you with the blatant objective of either killing you or driving you insane…or both.

The name of the "factory" was the Flying Dutchman, which sounded more like a pirate's ship, but Maka wasn't going to argue, mostly she just wanted out. It was a maze of animated pipe monsters, that terrifying clown…thing, and the scarecrow dude, which thankfully Blaire was successfully dealing with.

The black cat had taken off with him in hot pursuit after she snagged his straw hat, of which he was apparently exceptionally fond of. Those pipes were still a bit of a problem though, since they reached out to try and snag Maka, or Soul's blade if she wasn't careful about how she held him. Of course, the one or two times he had been snagged, she had managed to free him by simply cutting through the pipes, but she didn't want to give them an opportunity to catch him under his head. That would be more difficult to get him out of. Mostly though, they targeted her, and came at her with open jagged "mouths" which left a few sizable bites here and there when she hadn't been careful enough.

They'd only been here for fifteen to twenty minutes, and already she had been separated from Blaire, was being pursued by a clown demon, and was consistently bombarded and bitten by evil pipes…

If she wasn't currently living it she wouldn't have believed her own story.

They'd been sent here to get a magical tool, like most of the other missions on the board. As of yet, Maka hadn't been able to locate it, but highly suspected the clown would know. Now, if she could just pin it down, before it got her, then she'd be in great shape. Of course that would be easier if she wasn't running from it. It was harder to pursue if you were already being pursued. Somehow she had to flip the situation around.

She wasn't even entirely sure _what_ it was. It looked part machine, part human, and maybe part animal. It was really hard to tell. Basically, it was insanity made into a physical form, and just being around the thing was infectious. It ate at Maka's sanity.

To her horror, the machine-creature spoke with a silken voice that wove into her mind like a sickness, taking root and sprouting poisonous ivy, creating an itch between her ears she just couldn't scratch.

The voice seemed to come from all around her, telling her to give into the madness, to just sit down and accept…

After a while, she unconsciously began to slow down, and then stumbled a little. She emerged from the pipes into a somewhat larger room, still full of pipes of course, but bigger in diameter than the twisty halls they had previously been running through. As she staggered out into the center of the chamber she had to bend over and grab her knees, feeling uncharacteristically out of breath and dizzy – though it probably wasn't physical so much as mental.

"Maka! Pull it together! Maka! Hey! It's coming! What are you doing?!"

That was Soul, his voice so very far away as she looked up, sensing something coming.

It was on the opposite side to her, which was strange since she had thought it was behind…but with this crazy maze anything was possible. She stared with glazed-over eyes at the clown as it slowly creeped closer – moving with an unsettling smooth but disjointed gate. There was something hypnotic in those pinpoint eyes, in the velvety voice, and even in the grotesque form of it – and she simply couldn't pull her eyes away…as if she had been caught inside a web.

She was both horrified and fascinated as the face started morphing until it began looking like her own and the obscene sight pinned her in place even more securely than before. It was a hallucination of madness, she knew this very well, but she still couldn't fight the pull of her own green eyes - bright with insanity - staring at her from such a horrifying mismatched body.

Soul's frantic voice held no meaning for her, even as he throbbed desperately in her hands to try and get her attention. She was pinioned, as securely as if she were a butterfly speared through with a pin and stuck inside a glass box to be stared at. When the predator wearing her face moved, she had no hope of blocking, and the lance-like appendage that served as one arm snapped forwards for the tip to lodge in her soul. Somehow it didn't damage her physically even though it was technically penetrating her body and chest cavity.

With a scream and full-body convulsion, her numb fingers dropped Soul as she crumpled into herself. The clown found it quite easy to tow her with it into a cage made of pipes that suddenly came into being. It dragged her by her very soul, which didn't seem physically possible – but it hurt like hell and wrenched another scream from her deflated lungs. Her entire chest ached with an unearthly pain, and she was helpless to resist, not knowing how to fight it.

This left Soul outside, and he instantly popped back into human form, horror shooting through his veins faster than ever before as he screamed her name. The pipes closed before he could get to her limp form cradled in that monster's "arms." He plowed into the bars at a running pace, and stopped abruptly, her name falling from his lips at an alarmingly loud volume.

"Maka! Hang on! I'm coming for you! MAKA!"

The metal didn't give in the slightest from his rather harsh impact, and he was left to stretch his arm through a crack between two pipes, blindly reaching as he continued to scream for her even though he knew it was a useless endeavor. His arm transformed into a scythe and he tried to cut through the pipes, but it didn't work. He just bounced back, over and over, creating godawful metallic screams as his blade went into battle with the steel and copper of the pipes.

There was no getting to her through brute force. The crushing reality of the situation dropped him to his knees as he pressed against the bars hopelessly.

"Maka…"

No…there was still a spark, he could still feel her soul resonating against this own as if through deep dark water, a similar sensation to the way she had felt doused in black blood back when they fought Crona. There was hope, if only he could reach her. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and reached for her with his soul, calling for her with every tiny shred of his being.

" _Maka…I know you're there…"_

And then, suddenly she was. Her soul had stepped into his soul-space, and he immediately met her. This time, she was not wearing that black dress; she was wearing her normal clothes, though they seemed to warp around her frame at odd angles. It was her face though that got him. Half her face was covered by a replica of the clown's mask, and the uncovered eye was vague, glazed with insanity.

"Soul?" She murmured, reaching for him.

He could feel a flutter of her soul, a desperate little struggle, like a bird helplessly caught in the claws of a cat and wriggling for its last breath.

"I'm right here…" His hand reached out and he clasped her fingers with his, feeling a little shiver go through her. A tiny crack appeared in her mask - which had to be a good sign.

They were in the room with the piano, lodged deep in his soul, in a place she had never been before. Normally it would have freaked him out - her being so deep inside him - but right now he was too worried about her, terrified actually, and he couldn't be concerned with such trivialities.

Now… how was he supposed to lead her out of the darkness? Could he just rip that mask off her? It was worth a shot he supposed…

"Maka…" He said softly, tugging her closer. "Can I?"

His fingers tucked next to the mask, and when she didn't offer any resistance, he gripped with his fingernails and pulled, desperate to remove it. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to help at all. In fact it only seemed to make things worse, as blood suddenly began dripping from under it and a high pitched chuckle shook her chest – right before an equally shrill scream.

He jerked back like he'd been burned.

His eyes darted around, wild with fear as he tried to think of something, anything to fix this, and then something caught his eyes. The piano. Behind it, the devil peeked out, grinning.

Of course.

He could hear souls, could hear sounds and tones and music that no-one else could, and somehow he instinctually knew he could play her soul. Each soul had its own note, its own tone, its own song - and he had heard and felt hers more times than he could count. He could play it. He could lead her out of the darkness, but she would need to participate.

Sitting down, he patted the bench next to him. "Come sit with me."

She did as he bid, and sat next to him, her eyes showing some curiosity.

"This piano is a part of me…" he said to her, lightly caressing the black top with a finger and feeling a zap of the insanity within it tickle his fingertip. "But there's insanity in it."

"Insanity?"

"Yes. The black blood seeped into it, but it was dark long before that. It housed all the shadows in my soul for a very long time." This wasn't really necessary to tell her, but he had seen that curiosity in her eyes, and the more he could draw it out the better. It was her soul peeking through the insanity.

"Why?"

He should have expected the question, but it still made him flinch. "It has to do with some things in my past, which still haunt me. Playing the piano tends to bring back a lot of pain that I once went through."

There was a long pause, and then a small crack snapped off the first in her mask.

"I'm sorry." She murmured, her fingers lightly joining his on the piano.

Her hand gently caressed the keys, feather light, and he felt a reverberating shiver in his soul as she touched something deep in him. He hid the quaking of his body, and focused instead on her next set of words.

"I really like your piano playing. It's beautiful."

Another shiver racked his form, and he felt kind of like he had been punched in the gut… breathless, heart pounding, a deep ache inside. Those were words he had longed to hear his entire life, but never had. He didn't even realize that he still harbored that deep wish from his childhood, until the compliment crushed him into the ground with all the subtlety of a grand piano being dropped on his head. But it was a warm and almost pleasant kind of crushed.

Oh, of course he had been complimented, his technique had been perfect. But the way he played, from his very soul… _that_ had never been approved of. Only music from a sheet, and not the kind he composed. And…he had only ever played that kind for Maka…never sheet music.

Clearing his throat, he ignored the compliment, even though he knew she had felt his responses rush through her soul as well, judging by the new crack in her mask.

"I believe we all have it. Madness exists in every soul. It can be fought, or succumbed to, or tamed and used for greatness. They say all the greatest people in history were mad - Albert Einstein, Beethoven, Van Gogh."

"Yeah…"

 _Okay, time to get to the point Soul_ , he thought to himself. "My point is, the clown locked onto whatever insanity you already had inside of you. You can fight it, and you can use it as well. But don't succumb."

His fingers ran over the keys, stroking them in preparation. "My piano is insanity, but it is also power. However… I can't let it control me, or I'll be sucked into the madness."

"So…the birth place of power is insanity?"

"Sometimes, yeah. What's power to you, Maka?"

There was a long pause as she thought about it. Finally her response came. "Courage. Power is courage. So insanity is the birthplace of courage."

This was going somewhere very weird in Soul's opinion, but he went with it. "Okay. Sure."

That crack in her mask had grown, and he could feel her soul, warm and lucid just under the surface. It was time.

"Maka, every person's soul has a note. I want you to play a single note on this piano….whichever key calls to you."

Trustingly, she looked at the ivories, perusing them with her much saner gaze. Finally, her hand reached out, hovered over a few, and then decidedly landed, playing the G without any hesitation. Soul grinned, knowing that was the note she would pick.

However, despite having heard her soul a million times, hearing it played so clearly in _**his**_ soul with _**his**_ piano changed it entirely somehow. The cadence of her soul hit his ears more clearly and more perfectly than ever before. He nearly fell off the bench as the resonance shook his very bones. A composition bloomed to life inside him at the sound of her - as her note drifted through his soul in such an intimate manner that he nearly lost all manner of cool.

It was at this moment that he realized this piano hidden deep inside could be used for far more than just moping purposes. He could play it and increase their resonance. He could probably do all sorts of things he had never dreamed of, and yet as the demon cackled in a dark place in his mind, he knew it would only strengthen the black blood's hold on him.

For her part, Maka had been lost prior to entering Soul's space, and even during their conversation, scenes of madness still tried to drag her mind down into the deepest, darkest pit of her personal hell. It was a place littered with the writhing, crying bodies of her mangled friends and family, all injured because of her and her weakness.

Prior to that, before she'd entered his soul, she had been even deeper, and had been climbing out of it over corpses. Shadows picked at her, tore at her, ripped at her skin and flesh, going for her eyes and her tears ran red with blood. She could feel her heart beating a rapid pulse at her throat and in her chest, driving her adrenaline and terror to greater heights as her soul dropped deeper. From beneath, the dead bodies writhed with maggots, which crawled up her hands, began to bite into her flesh though she was still living.

Or was she?

It was hard to tell, and suddenly the world tipped, and she was falling backwards, amongst the dead, falling into a pit of blackness. She hit the ground hard, and the sound of bodies thudding at the mercy of gravity sounded through the utter silence.

It was pitch black, and for a long moment she stared up blindly, wondering if this was the end…

Until suddenly a light came on from somewhere. Maka squinted in the blinding light, though it was dim and faintly red, but after the utter blackness it was too bright.

First, her father came forth, and he paraded through the graveyard of unburied, trailing a mass of women who threw themselves at him. At first, they just pulled at him, grabbed with clawing fingers, shrieking and crying out in horrible high pitched voices to take them, to fuck them, but it wasn't soon before those fingers became claws. He was ripped apart, piece by bloody piece before her eyes, torn to bits by the whores who ate his flesh. Maka seemed unable to look away from the gruesome spectacle, and screamed and cried her way through it.

Her mother shortly followed, and watched the mass slaughter with tears dripping down her face. Those tears soon turned to blood though, as she dug her own fingers into her eyes. Maka winced, and her voice – already hoarse from screaming – cried out in horror once again. That sound only sharpened as her mother's bloody finger went to her chest instead, and shoved wrist deep into herself. With a mind-numbing crunching and grinding sound, she plunged them deep, a scream that bubbled with blood vomiting from her throat. And then they were removed, and she held in them the still beating and bloody heart that should have been inside of her.

Those images disappeared in a wisp of smoke, and then darkness returned for a short while as whispers assaulted her ears.

" _It's all your fault…she never would have stayed with him and hurt so badly if it weren't for you…she would have been able to be happy…"_

" _They never loved you…they never loved each other…she was just another of his fuck toys…just like you'll be someday to someone…"_

" _She probably killed herself…she's probably dead…the one sending a postcard every few months is probably your father…"_

" _She never loved you, she wouldn't have left you with him if she did…she abandoned you…he abandoned you both…"_

Her fears assaulted her verbally until they made her ears bleed and hurt as if they'd been stabbed physically with iron pins.

Then that shut off and the light returned, a new figure strutting forwards. This time it was her friends and fellow students: Black Star, Kid, Tsubaki, Patty, Liz, Oz, Kim, Jacki, Fire, Lightning, Hero…all her classmates filed in. They walked towards her limp bloody and beaten form, and for a moment hope bloomed in her chest.

"Help…help me! Please!" She croaked, rising up onto her knees from the fetal ball she'd curled into to try and protect herself.

She fell forwards, reaching out so violently with both hands in pleas that she toppled over. Instead of stopping and offering their help, her friends walked over her. A cry was forced from her throat as she was trodden into the ground. Boots, shoes, heels…they crushed her hands, stomped her head, broke her back and ribs, until she felt like a puddle of useless blood under their soles. They never looked back…and the whispers returned...insidiously licking at the insides of her ears and skull.

" _You're nothing…"_

And then a single pair of shoes stopped in front of her. She was lifted by a pigtail, until her face was even with another's.

"…Soul…please…" The sob tore itself from her, painfully, horrifically…and she stared into his red eyes, hoping to see her partner there and not another monster.

This was hell though, not heaven.

A bloodthirsty grin split his lips wide into a Cheshire grin, and his red eyes seemed to glow with demonic light. He yanked her close, too close, until that shark mouth was assaulting her. His lips and then teeth ground into her mouth, terrifying her. She tried to scream, but felt like she was suffocating. Sharp teeth bit into her lips, tore them, and blood filled her mouth. And then she was being thrown back - her body discarded with all the care and gentleness one would allocate to a bag of garbage.

She hit the ground hard, coughed up blood, and then stared up at the monstrous version of Soul as he began to laugh. A hand was wiped carelessly across his mouth, just smearing the blood across his face. His tongue swiped out and licked up some of the rest in a repulsive display. And then he grinned at her again.

"Oh please. Did you think I would ever touch _you_?"

Those whispers snuck into her head and riffled through her insecurities, like a bunch of mice invading her brain. They ate through her fears, and murmured words to her, serenading her with a song of, " _…flat chested…unfeminine…child-like…"_

A child's voice that sounded a lot like hers played in one ear. " _Scary…sex is scary…no…never…will never do what Daddy did to hurt Mommy…"_

Yet another voice whispered, " _Perverted…touching yourself every night while scorning sex…how twisted…how could anyone ever want to be with you?"_

Phantom fingers that felt like her own but were entirely wrong began drifting over her body in a twisted mimicry of what she normally did at night to help herself fall asleep. It was horrible, revolting, and sparked terror in her gut. Suddenly her stomach revolted and tossed its contents across the bloody gory ground of the nightmare-scape.

Soul began to laugh, and then howl with it.

Then abruptly, a new light shone in the darkness, a tiny pinprick at first, but one that quickly grew larger and closer. It was a way out, and drifting from it was voice and soul calling out to her, guiding her to the light and away from the horrors of this nightmare. It whispered to her, wove into her until it touched her cracked soul, and then ripped her from that world. She found herself in her real partner's soul-space, called there by himself this time instead of the little devil. Her mind was torn though, between him and the insanity still dragging at her consciousness.

During their conversation, the other version of Soul, the one that the clown had created, taunted her from the insanity, trying to drag her from the real Soul. But as soon as that single crystal clear note sounded, all traces of the darkness were wiped from her soul. Warmth filled her to the breaking point, and that damnable mask fell away from her face.

All traces of the nightmare melted off her soul like butter over a hot stone. That heat continued to grow, a blinding light infusing her chest and pushing the clown back as she returned to consciousness and sanity.

This time, she knew what was happening, unlike with Crona. She now knew that she harbored purifying wavelength, and currently it was pulsing in her chest, making it warm and full and glow with the brightness of her soul. She flew from the soul-space to return to her own body and looked through her own eyes at the clown, which had been thrown back against the pipes. It was cringing back, deformed arms held over its face to try and hide from the light coming from her.

That light only continued to grow, pushing back the darkness, pushing back the clown, pushing back the pipes even. The metal of her cage creaked and groaned, bending outwards for a long moment at its breaking point, and then they split apart outwards. Thankfully Soul had seen it coming and backed up fast enough to not get hurt. He still had to hold up a bladed arm to block and cut through some of the flying debris.

What she was unaware of were the wings sprouting from her back, but Soul saw them clear as day, glowing like the wings of an angel. They peaked over her shoulders this time, instead of being nearly invisible. She stepped out of the cage and towards him, a beautiful smile on her face. The golden glowing wings of light that emanated from her Grigori soul were nearly enough to shock him into forgetting to transform. He only remembered once she reached out a hand to him in a clear request.

As soon as he transformed and her hand latched on, he felt her soul flood his own with light and power - unlike he had ever felt from her before. Without any further ado, his scythe blade was glowing, morphing, rippling into the crescent of Witch hunter.

Maka's purifying wavelength pushed his own shadows into the farthest recesses of his mind, and with a sharkish grin he knew he could play without fear of falling. It was time to try out his theory. Without any hesitation the fingers of his soul played across the keys, sending a blast of resonance through them both.

Maka gasped, shocked as music filled her mind and soul, and she knew without a doubt that it was from Soul - from his piano he had showed her. Their resonance skyrocketed, and Witch Hunter underwent another transformation, one side of his blade thickening into nearly an axe-like shape. She spent no time worrying about the new form. Instead, she simply used it against the clown.

Her body moved like lightning as she dashed forwards, the blade trailing a streak of power behind them, and she swung Soul around her and into the clown at full force. The creature didn't have a chance. It split apart at the seams, screaming bloody murder and throwing insanity around like bug spray, trying to catch them in its web as a last desperate resort. It didn't work, and the dots of darkness burnt away as soon as they came into contact with the light Maka emitted.

Maka could feel the shadows of insanity creeping up on Soul though as he continued playing, and she pushed even more purifying wavelength into their connection to keep him sane. It was something they were going to have to work on, and a shot of irritation at Soul for hiding this from her zipped through her consciousness. The irritation didn't last long. After all, it would be hypocritical of her to fault him for hiding something like that.

Thankfully, the demon perished, and Soul could stop playing. In the aftermath, something clattered to the ground where the creature once stood. It was a key of some sort.

"Hey, does that look like a magical tool to you?" She asked Soul, already going for it.

"Yep."

Right as her hand closed around the rather large, glowing, golden key, a rumble shook the foundation.

"What was that?"

"Dunno, but it didn't sound good." Soul commented, his reflection looking around from his once again normal blade.

"It's the factory self-destructing. It's probably time to go." Maka whirled at the chipper voice, to see Blaire sitting there, still in her Kitty form, looking very smug indeed.

"What did you do?" Maka gasped as another tremor shook the building.

"There's no time for questions Maka! Run!" Soul shouted, and she realized he was right as a big chunk of the ceiling caved in.

"Right!"

They tore through the halls then, Blaire zipping ahead and leading the way.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I know I probably didn't need to put up a warning, since this is an M rated story, but just in case I figured I'd put it up. That scene definitely has some disturbing imagery, and I know some people prefer not to read that, or at least prefer to know it's coming. Of course it would be different if this was a dark story, then you'd know to expect it. But since this story is largely humor and romance...you get my drift.

Anywho, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and wasn't too perturbed.

As always, thank you to everyone who had reviewed this story. You guys really do keep me writing.


	13. Chapter 13

Maka had hoped that things would be less insane back home. After all, the DWMA wasn't nearly as crazy as a living factory and mad clown right?

The only problem with that theory, was that she hadn't expected for the witch Medusa to suddenly come back to life and offer herself up to the academy. Crona's mom had been cut to ribbons, according to Stein, so how in the heck had she come back? Perhaps that was explained by the fact that she was in the body of a child, one which she was apparently "borrowing." But why would she come to the Academy and offer herself as a hostage? It made no sense.

It had to be a trick… a nasty, dirty trick.

Surely the teachers and Lord Death recognized this fact, which was why she was locked up in the highest security cell they possessed. Locked up…and apparently in a strait jacket. Somehow Maka felt absolutely no sympathy for the witch's plight. That was probably because she'd betrayed them all so damn thoroughly, not to mention how she had abused poor Crona.

Still, the fact that she had come back and was now housed deep beneath the Academy shook Maka – mainly because she could see just how much it terrified Crona. The fact that her new friend was put in such a horrible situation made her really want to go down there and confront the evil woman, but she held back thanks to Soul. He convinced her to stay far away from Medusa, and focus on trying to comfort Crona.

They should have expected it, but things almost instantly took a dark and confusing turn. Only days after her capture, Medusa was set free.

Not only was she released and pardoned, but she was also put in charge of a mission. The mission itself wasn't overly unexpected; they were to infiltrate Babba Yagga, the headquarters of Arachnophobia. However, the fact that she would be leading them was a major shock, and not one Maka was comfortable with in any sense of the word.

There was a rumor going around – one which Kid confirmed for her later when she asked – that Medusa had brought them the magic weapon called Brew. Only a few weeks prior, a high ranked mission to go and try to capture Brew had been undertaken, but it had been believed that the weapon was seized by the enemy. This notion was disillusioned by Medusa, when she told them that she had planted the version Arachnophobia had gotten, and that it was a fake, before presenting them with the real one.

They heard all of this on the down low though, and Kid told it to them only after threatened by a Maka Chop. However, the information did nothing to sooth Maka. In fact it only enraged her more, because now it seemed like Lord Death had essentially been bought, with Brew and also with information on both the Kishin and Arachne. Apparently Medusa had provided the information on how to find Babba Yagga…which was again, very suspicious. Why would she give up the location of a fellow witch, unless she had something to gain from it?

Whatever the case, the fact remained that Medusa was now here, in charge of this oh-so-important-mission, and Soul and Maka had been drafted as two of the participants in this little journey to hell. Medusa chose them due to Maka's soul perception and anti-demon wavelength, which she said would be absolutely necessary to the success of the plan.

The only comforting thing about it was that at least there would be a high ranked team of meisters and weapons nearby, watching Medusa's every move and ready to take her out via sniper if she turned coat.

That gave Maka a modicum of comfort, but not very much, and it certainly didn't help Crona at all. The poor guy had ended up bunking with them out of sheer terror, because, as he put it, "I don't know how to deal with living in the same building as…her."

Not only did he move out of the Academy - and his prison-turned-apartment in the basement - but he also refused to attend classes. Essentially he refused to get within a hundred feet of the building, and Maka couldn't blame him in the least.

It was a battle just to try and get him to eat or sleep, since all he seemed capable of doing was balling up with a pillow in the corner that he had claimed in their apartment– the darkest one available of course. She offered him an empty notebook to write in, since he had seemed to enjoy writing poetry that one time. This time however, she didn't touch or look at it. Both Soul and Maka had learned that lesson quickly when his first poem sent them both into such a deep depression that they didn't eat for two days. Nevertheless, he accepted the offering and scribbled away at it in between whimpering and shaking.

Occasionally Maka could get him to eat, especially when she discovered that he liked Ramen and just about any sort of noodle soup - chicken noodle included. It wasn't the healthiest diet by any means, but it was better than a diet of air and sadness. She just felt so sorry for him, and spent even more time with him than usual trying to get him to cheer up even just a little.

He was particularly distraught the day when they were supposed to leave on the Babba Yagga mission, and he actually got out of his corner in order to latch onto Maka's arm and cling, begging her to not go.

"Please don't go Maka. I don't think I could deal with it if you didn't return."

His saying that he couldn't deal with things was more than common. He couldn't deal with showers and the color of his own hair, but this time he sounded like he actually meant it…in a way entirely different than before. He sounded like it physically hurt to think about the idea of her not returning.

She was so shocked she couldn't even think up a proper response.

To her even greater surprise, it was actually Soul who stepped up to the plate and managed to calm the distraught pinkette down.

"Chill. A cool guy like me would never let their meister get killed. I couldn't deal with losing her either." He said it without an ounce of doubt in his voice.

Crona looked at him wide-eyed, seeming to be thinking about what he said. After a long moment he slowly inched back and let Maka's – now numb – arm loose. "Okay." He said very simply, and then turned big, gray puppy-dog eyes back towards her. "Please come back. I couldn't deal with…" He gulped thickly and stopped there.

She blinked at him a few times, her shock-meter having hit the top and blown a fuse. But she quickly realized she needed to look confidant to ease Crona's worries, so she pasted a broad smile on her shell-shocked face. "Don't worry Crona. I'll be back super-fast. Oh, and there's some noodles in the fridge if you get hungry. They're the kind you don't mind being cold, since I know you don't like the microwave."

He nodded miserably, saying, "…thanks…" in a very small sad voice.

Maka gave him a brief, one armed hug and then split, nearly running out the door to get away from the sad sight. It made her want to stay so badly, and she felt so incredibly guilty leaving him. But he would be fine; after all Blaire would help take care of him in their absence. Although, Maka had given her strict instructions to not hit on him, since it scared him senseless every time she tried over the past few days.

Right now though, they had to leave.

Maka and Soul met up with the others at the front of the DWMA who were going on this mission. Team Kilik was there: Ox, Harvar, Kilik, Fire and Thunder. They were going on this mission especially to save their team mates Kim and Jackie, who had been kidnapped by Arachnophobia after running away from the academy. As it turned out, Kim was a witch, and though no disciplinarian action was going to be taken against her, after being found out she had run away out of fear before anyone could actually explain to her that she wasn't in trouble. Therefore the Kilik Team was adamant about coming on this mission so they could save their friends.

Along with them, Kid, Liz, and Patty were all coming. Apparently, Medusa already had comrades in place at Babba Yagga castle, and so this was the small infiltration party.

Sid, Naigus, and Azusa were the heads of the monitor team, who were going to keep an eye on Medusa from afar. They led a group of about 20 meisters and weapons, but they were all to stay on the periphery unless something untoward happened or the plan failed.

Once everyone was assembled, they set off. It was a long and unpleasant journey, made awkward by the presence of a much hated witch. Eventually though, they made it to the edge of a deep jungle, within which was located the castle they meant to siege.

"Careful. Everyone walk in a straight line directly behind me. Do not step off the path; this whole forest is rigged with spider web booby traps that we can't afford to trigger. That would alert Arachne to our presence." Medusa instructed.

She proceeded first, her magic vector arrows marking the path and carefully opening up the web traps without triggering them so they could carefully sneak through. It was slow, tedious, hot, muggy, and itchy. Mosquitoes and spiders were everywhere, along with even nastier insects like centipedes and scorpions.

They encountered various magical traps, as well as unintentional magical runoff that had created dangerous swamps, puddles, quicksand, and all sorts of other foul unnatural things. These areas were marked by abnormal hues in the vegetation and water, steam, foul smells, and – in the case of ponds, swamps, and puddles of quicksand – water which seemed to bubble as if it was boiling. These spots also seemed to harbor all manner of twisted creatures which had been tainted by the dark magics running wild in the area. Those creatures often posed problems, but with the strength of their party the threats were each dealt with in a relatively expeditious manner with few injuries. Maka had a slight advantage, because she could see the creatures' twisted souls from a distance, and made sure to warn the rest of the party whenever they were approaching them.

To say it was not a fun camping trip would be an understatement in the extreme.

By the time they finally reached what appeared to be a hole in a cliff face - which was a secret entrance into the castle proper - everyone in the party was in a truly unwholesome mood. Nobody had escaped without accumulating many itchy bites (despite the insect repellant they had all used.) Not to mention they were all covered in sticky uncomfortable sweat, getting tired and cranky, and building up a slow hatred towards this part of the world. Maka was pretty sure than none of them would be coming back to this location for a vacation any time soon. It was too hot, too full of pests, and way too creepy.

Jungles could be pretty, but this one was decidedly not, what with the over-abundance of creepy crawlies of every imaginable type and size, wicked magic turning things twisted and wrong, and the bad smell that seemed to pervade the whole forest.

So it was with a good deal of relief that they reached the castle wall. The observation team had already split off from the infiltration group a while ago, to set up camp some distance away where they could witness the goings on. Of course with Azusa there – a Death Scythe who could link to anyone's soul and see through their eyes, and then somehow project her vision from there in an extremely advanced sniper ability – they could be at any distance and still keep tabs on them.

They were met at the entrance to the tunnel by two faces they recognized, a frog witch and a mouse witch who had assisted Medusa in the attack on the DWMA. No one was overly happy to see them, but hostilities were kept to a minimum. The party who had just arrived were all provided with long black robes and white spider masks to blend in with the Arachnophobia group. It seemed their sense of fashion left a lot to be desired, but at least it made it easy to break in.

They made their way inside, and then once they reached a nexus point it seemed Medusa pulled everyone aside to hold a rushed and quiet conversation with them.

"All right. This castle is something of a fortress, all aimed to protect a central chamber – the one where Arachne is. There are eight locks that have to be destroyed before the doors to the chamber will open. None of you saw the outside of the castle, but there are eight towers that appear like legs spreading off from the castle. At the end of each of these legs is a lock. I will need the Kilik team to take on one, Ox and Harvar will take one, and Kid's team will take one. Maka, you're going to come with me to the central chamber."

"And just how are we supposed to find these locks?"

"I will implant vector arrows into your minds to show you the way. Only you will be able to see them."

"Oh great." The boys groaned, obviously unimpressed with the idea of letting this particular witch anywhere near their brains.

Kid particularly protested, since he was supposed to keep an eye on her as well. However his duties were switched to Maka, which she was only too happy to complete. She was already watching the bitch like a hawk.

So, now that the plan had been established, they all split up to go to their various posts. Apparently the people Medusa already had inside this establishment were each to get a leg of their own, so there would be enough for each lock to be broken.

Medusa, Soul, and Maka proceeded towards the central chamber. It wasn't long before suddenly the alarms were sounded and all three of them froze. "Have we been discovered?"

"I certainly hope not." Medusa commented, almost mildly, but with a certain tension to her voice that betrayed her displeasure.

It was at that point that some sort of speaker system clicked on for an announcement to be made. "Attention! There has been an enemy spotted approaching the castle from the forest. Though we have not made visual contact yet, he or she appears to be formidable and is taking out much of the surroundings. Please proceed to battle stations."

They blinked at each other through their spider masks. "Uh, that wasn't part of the plan was it?"

"No, indeed it was not. However we can certainly use it to our advantage. Come, we must hurry." Medusa once again led the way through the winding, twisting corridors of this castle.

They reached the final chamber, or at least the doors leading to it, and they stalled in the hallway. The doors were massive, and irrevocably closed, which meant the others hadn't finished completing their missions yet.

"Now what?"

"Now, we wait."

And wait they did, for several long minutes. Suddenly there was the sound of an explosion, coming from somewhere in the castle, and one of the little legs of the large, ornate spider lock mechanism fitted into the center of the huge double doors fell off.

"Look! Did you see that?!"

"Yes…it seems we can tell how many locks remain by counting the legs on that spider. I hadn't noticed it until now."

Looking closer, they could see that three were already gone, which meant that only five remained. After a short time, another fell off with a tiny clink and little incidence. Over the course of the next few minutes, the legs continued to fall, one by one, until only one was left. They waited some more, until finally, the last leg popped off. There was a long pause, and then the doors began to creak open. With a grinding, halting, screeching sound, the great doors split down the middle and opened ever so slowly, ominously.

The three of them stepped forwards gingerly, expecting another trap. And another trap was precisely what they got.

No sooner had they stepped onto the threshold between the massive doors, than a black force suddenly swept forwards and snagged them up within its claws. Maka felt herself falling, both physically as her body was separated by force from her mind, as well as her sanity. Her consciousness began to fall into a pit of blackness, the same kind she had been in so recently. This time though, she caught herself, digging the fingers of her soul into the walls of the shaft she found herself plunging into and stopped her downward momentum.

Like hell was she going to succumb to another bout of crazy…she'd had enough of that during the few short minutes she'd been treated to it the last time. That had been more than enough to prove how much sanity was worth, and she intended to keep hers. For a few moments she felt the pull on her soul, a forceful gravity that tried to tear her from her hold on her mental faculties, but she didn't give them up. It was utterly terrifying, and she had to push through the horror of the situation to remember her weapon.

…Her anti-demon, purifying wavelength.

As soon as the thought struck her, she summoned it forth with every ounce of concentration she possessed. She'd never activated it consciously before, so it took a few precious moments to figure out how to do it, but finally she felt that warmth thawing out the frost trying to creep up on her soul. Her soul began to glow and pierced the darkness that she'd been thrown into. She could clearly see the way out now and looked up at what appeared to be the mouth of a well she had fallen into.

She willed herself upwards, towards that light, and the glow of her soul increased. Soon she found herself gliding up and she kept her eyes focused in the way out, never letting it out of her sight, even for a moment.

Before she knew it, she was flying out of the hole and back into her body. She came to – as if she had been passed out – sprawled across the floor and limp as a wet noodle. Groaning, she pushed herself upright and glanced at her two companions. They were both laid out flat too.

Medusa she could care less about, but Soul…

"Soul!" She gasped and was at his side instantly.

Maka wrapped her arms around his limp form and lifted him into her lap. One of her hands clasped behind his neck while the other gripped his opposite shoulder. "Soul!" His name once again spilled from her lips and she shook him, but his body remained limp. "Damnit Soul. Wake up!"

When he refused to respond to her and she couldn't even seem to reach his soul with hers, she did the only thing she could think of. She gave him a very firm MAKA CHOP. "Snap out of it!"

He jerked and she felt a spark of his soul. Instantly, she latched onto it with hers. Through that tentative connection she flooded him with powerful purifying wavelengths, and slowly the darkness that shrouded him was lifted.

"M-Maka?" He groaned as he finally regained consciousness and his red eyes blearily opened to blink up at her.

"Thank god, you scared me."

"Sorry."

As for Medusa, Maka simply gave her a couple of good chops to the head and then bombarded her with anti-demon wavelength, and she came around quick enough.

Once free, they all stepped through the doors with a good deal of apprehension. They were faced with a massive web, a spider's lair of epic proportions.

"Maka. Use your soul perception abilities. Where is she?" Medusa ordered.

Though it rankled her to take orders from the witch, she dutifully searched and found the soul of Arachne. "That way." She pointed.

"Excellent. Stand back while I clear a path for us."

Medusa activated a mass of vector arrows, and they tore through the webs, leaving a clear path to the final chamber. They made their way through the webbed tunnel and emerged into a giant antechamber, one with black and white checkered floor and pillars that sored high above their heads to disappear into a nearly physical blackness that permeated the entire hall. The walls couldn't be seen either, it was as if they were in a room set within a void. Even the web behind them disappeared.

Arachne was in front of them, but something wasn't right. Her body was…it didn't house her soul. Maka squinted, not sure she was sensing it right, but she wasn't mistaken. The body before them was empty. That was confirmed as it slowly keeled over to lay limp on the floor – dead.

"What the…?"

"She's in here…just not in her body." Maka warned, already reaching for Soul.

His hand met hers, and she felt the warmth of flesh give way to vibrating steel. Everything about this room gave her the heebie-jeebies and she wanted to be ready at a moment's notice. The blackness writhed, as if it was composed of millions of spiders. Maka closed her eyes and focused.

Arachne was…above them.

With a jerk in her gut she slid into a defensive stance and looked up, seeing the form of a massive, twisted amorphous spider made out of blackness. It was Arachne, freed of her body, in a form composed of pure insanity.

"She's coming!"

Maka dodged to the side as a spider web attack sliced through the air, down at them. She knocked it aside with Soul and skidded sideways on the soles of her boots as she regained her balance. Breathing heavily, she watched as Arachne confronted Medusa…who was apparently her sister of all crazy things. It made sense in a weird twisted way. They certainly shared a certain…familial charm…. otherwise known as murderous intent, insanity, power, and manipulation.

It didn't bode well for Soul and Maka when Medusa was felled relatively quickly. She just suddenly went stiff and fell over to lie on the floor, apparently paralyzed. Her face was stiff with shock.

They readied themselves for a rather tough battle.

Sure enough, as soon as she had immobilized her sister, the evil spider witch came after them. Maka held her attacks off with Soul's blade, even though he was simply cutting through air. There was no resistance as she dispersed the black spider claws with him, but it felt solid enough when one attack snuck by her defense and slapped her across the neck and cheek, leaving a painful bruise and throwing her back a little. She landed on her feet and slid backwards, only just maintaining her footing.

Things very quickly escalated from bad to much, much worse as Maka suddenly felt a wave of darkness sweep over her and then further. She spun, watching the black tendrils of Arachne's soul spread out of the room and Maka's soul perception picked up how the souls of everyone within a great radiance suddenly fell ill with insanity. Also, she was somewhat unsurprised to find out that the ruckus from before was actually Black Star, which she now knew since she could feel his soul alongside the rest of her friends. But she couldn't spare too much time wondering why he showed up.

"Soul! She's attacking everyone! We have to stop her!"

"And quickly." He added.

Soul almost expected to feel the effects of the insanity, and when he didn't he wondered what the hell was going on. It didn't take him long to figure it out. He was resonating with Maka and she was projecting that anti-demon wavelength to keep herself safe, which meant that it was also protecting his soul. If only he could somehow project the sound of her soul out to everyone else…

He stepped into his soul space and stared contemplatively at the piano standing prominently in that special room deep within him. Could he somehow play her soul and transmit its wavelength to everyone? He really doubted he could reach everyone … _unless…_

"Yeessss! Soul…play the piano; let me hear those beautiful notes…" The little red devil cooed at him.

"Shut up I'm trying to concentrate here." He barked back.

 _Maybe…just maybe..._

"Maka! Concentrate hard on her soul! How is she transmitting that insanity?"

He felt her focus and increased their level of resonance so he could see what she did with her soul perception. As he had suspected, the witch was using a web…a great big, stinking web, and had ensnared everyone's souls with it. Little nasty spiders of insanity crawled along those weird silk threads of her soul and latched onto anyone unlucky enough to be caught.

Maka could sense his intentions, and she focused even harder, pinpointing every strand and sending her soul perception out along it. As she did, he took the strands of the witch's soul, and attached them to his piano, until he was connected to each and every one.

"Now I can just play it, like a huge string instrument." He grinned, pleased with himself.

"I thought you only played piano?" The little devil questioned.

"Yeah. But my brother plays violin."

Without further ado, he played.

For the first time, the song of Maka's soul that had imprinted upon his brain and composed itself inside his soul from their last mission rang out underneath his fingertips.

Despite his best intentions, playing her soul was such an incredibly intimate activity that he put way too much of himself into it, and got a little carried away. He was helpless but to put every ounce of the powerful emotions he had for her into the playing, and the song rang out clear and achingly beautiful…sweet enough to give him a toothache. Although what kind of toothache turned into a heartache, he didn't know and frankly didn't care to know.

The powerful song vibrated every strand of the complex web and transmitted her soul's pure golden wavelength out through the web. One by one, he could feel her soul perception pick up on the souls being cleared of the insanity.

Then, ironically enough, the anti-demon wavelength traveled all the way back up the web and smacked its owner, Arachne, across the face, taking out one eye. She severed the web, but too late to save herself from some damage.

As for Maka, she stood in awe as she listened to the song being played out through her soul. It was so painfully lovely and touched her deeply, more deeply than ever before. It played across all those feelings she had hidden away, almost drawing them forth like a fish attached to a hook. She didn't understand how or why it had this effect on her, but there was definitely something there in the notes that conveyed something. She didn't know exactly _what_ was being conveyed, but it caused her soul to quiver in response. It almost freaked her out with the power of it.

It was unlike anything he had ever played before.

The music was over much too soon, and she had to tear her attention away from it and refocus entirely on the fight, as they suddenly had a supremely pissed off and injured spider witch coming at them with every ounce of fury she possessed.

"Soul Resonance!"

Their level of resonance kicked up to maximum, and she felt their souls click into place. At the same time, with the familiar surge of power, something else overcame her… a wave of the black blood.

She gasped, shocked as the black blood flowed from Soul, coating her. A burst of blackness sprayed from the hand holding his hilt and then wrapped around her arm, crawling up to coat the rest of her. Within the span of a few seconds, she found herself wearing a facsimile of the same black dress she had worn before when she entered his soul-space for the first time. The black fabric of the dress was made of glossy black blood, and it also coated her arms in and chest in the see-through mesh she remembered. That mesh was still thickly layered black blood and only _looked_ delicate.

This time, the dress flowed to the ground, and seemed to ripple and writhe around her as if alive.

"Soul…is this…?"

"Sorry, I let myself get carried away while playing and the black blood got activated. It'll settle down quick enough, but it should provide good armor."

"Right."

She shifted her attention to focus solely on the enemy, who seemed to be taken aback by her change in wardrobe as much as Maka. Arachne gathered herself together and then sent a spray of web at Maka, one which undoubtedly would have either injured or ensnared her. But she just raised an arm to protect her face and let it bounce right off her new armor. She didn't feel a thing.

Panicking, the witch attacked with everything she had left, sending black tendrils zipping down at them with deadly force, but they were all rebuffed by either the black blood or Soul's blade. As Maka moved, the black blood dress swirled around her, always staying close but writhing into twists and curls that betrayed its birthplace in insanity. However it felt like a part of her and she was no longer disturbed by it. It still was a part of Soul, and thus a part of her as they resonated. It was natural, and it protected her like a second skin.

"Now Arachne! I take your soul!"

So saying, she took a running leap to reach the form of the half-woman/half-spider that had manifested in place of a body. Amping up her resonance with Soul as high as it would go and sending a carefully measured shot of the anti-demon wavelength through it – not enough to disperse her armor – Soul's blade shifted, warped, and began to glow. It transitioned through the crescent of Witch Hunter and then into its newest form, that of Demon Hunter. It angled into more of an ax like form, and she brought it down onto Arachne without any mercy whatsoever.

She was ripped asunder forthwith.

Maka landed back on the ground and allowed their resonance – and the black dress – to disperse. Soul transformed back into human form and they watched as Arachne's purple glowing soul was finally revealed. "We defeated a witch, Soul…"

"Yeah…" He replied, just as breathlessly.

"You okay?"

"I'll be fine. The black blood is already calming down."

It was at this point – when she was vulnerable once again – that they were blindsided by an arrow vector. It hit Maka and cut deeply into her side. She was knocked back and staggered from the impact, crying out at the flash of agony that assaulted the severed nerves in her flesh. Her hand clapped to her side, and was immediately greeted by warmth and wetness as she bled into her palm.

"Guh, what?!" She groaned.

"Maka! Damn it!" Soul instantly had her and was supporting her weight. He whipped his head around to glare murderously at Medusa. "You bitch!"

She was now wearing the body of her sister, and they blinked at her, rather shocked. It had shifted to look like her, only with black hair instead of blond like before. When they risked a look back, they saw the body of an unknown child.

"She must have…body hopped or something when Stein cut her." Maka surmised, grimacing at the pain stabbing through her middle.

"Very astute Maka, but then I would expect nothing less. However, I must regretfully inform you that it's time for the two of you to disappear. You're much too dangerous."

She came at them, but before they could attempt to block or dodge, someone else suddenly dashed into the fight.

They were pushed back, and watched with greater and greater shock as a very strange pair entered into the fight. It was a…bear headed man…or rather, a man wearing the large head of a bear over his own. It wasn't even a realistic bear; it resembled a rather demented teddy bear. He was partnered with a monkey. A real monkey… not someone wearing a mask.

Apparently they were yet another Death Scythe sent by Lord Death. So far, the most normal Death Scythe Maka had met was her dad.

They watched with a state of numb shock as the duo fought Medusa and successfully scared her off.

As they were all walking out, she quietly held back Soul a moment, so she could ask him softly, "By the way, what was that song you played earlier?"

He shrugged dismissively. "Just something I came up with. It harnesses your purifying wavelength."

He said it so matter of factly, and with such a cool air of dismissiveness that she nearly felt like she had been rejected somehow. It almost felt like a slap in the face somehow…thought she couldn't quite figure out why. For some reason, his apathetic explanation of it felt like he was blowing off something important…but she couldn't bring herself to question him on it, so she just buried her irrational feelings on the matter alongside her crush.

* * *

Author's Note:

Alright! Yet another exciting chapter! Whoo! I hope everyone enjoyed it~

We're proceeding right along, and I promise I wasn't lying about the romance stuff. That will be coming up soon enough, no worries. :D

As always, a big thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story. You guys keep me writing. :D


	14. Chapter 14

Upon their return, Crona was so happy to see them that he wouldn't be persuaded to leave Maka's side for a full 78 hours. After that though, he finally moved back into his old space at the DWMA, of his own volition in fact. It seemed that he felt like a burden to Maka and Soul…although she suspected that he was also trying to escape from Blaire. Apparently she had waltzed out of the shower completely naked during their time spent on the Babba Yagga mission, and it had scarred the poor guy.

And so, it was back to business as usual for the scythe and his meister.

After beating Arachne, it was only a matter of gathering together 100 Kishin Egg souls before Soul could become a Death Scythe finally. After the last fuck up, they were both determined to do it right this time, and since they were already nearly at 90 before the Babba Yagga mission, it didn't take too long. Before Maka knew it, they were standing in front of Lord Death, and he was offering Arachne's soul to her partner.

She watched with pride, more joy than she could remember in a long time filling her as he snagged it with a shark-toothed grin. Jaws split wide, shockingly so, and he gulped it down, seeming to savor it more thoroughly than any other soul. Even though they weren't resonating, Maka felt a pulse go through their low-range connection that they constantly seemed to have these days. She could feel an overflow of the power flooding Soul.

This time, he didn't yell and pop blades all over his body like he did after eating Blaire's soul. In fact, for Soul he took it rather calmly, apparently playing it cool this time. For a long moment, he just stood there, that same mildly bored expression on his face.

"Uh…how do you feel?" She finally asked, worried it was somehow another dud, though how that could possibly be she had no idea.

He finally glanced over and his red eyes met hers. She sucked in a breath, both at the way his eyes literally _glowed_ , and when his lips suddenly curled into a broad, slightly lopsided, devilish smile, showing off all those pointy teeth. There was just a hint of insanity in that grin and just a hint of darkness, but mostly it was pleased. She'd never seen that particular expression on his face before, and it sent chills of an undetermined kind down her spine. For the first time, he looked like an actual shark - predatory with waves of power shivering off him.

It lasted all of a second and then he wrangled it back under control and his mouth shrunk into his normal cockeyed happy grin. "Feel great."

After that, both good things and bad things happened as a result.

First, Soul got himself a fan-club, mostly composed of female meisters, which drove Maka up the wall. She hated the fact that he started to get envelopes in his locker, pasted with little hearts and kisses and other nonsense asking him to be their partner. Some were even love confessions. How ridiculous. These girls didn't love him, they just loved that a guy their age had actually become a Death Scythe.

She supposed it was only natural that he would become so popular over night, after all, the last Death Scythe was her father, and there were only 8 others in the whole world. He was a pretty rare animal. Not to mention he was quite striking in appearance, and – of course in Maka's eyes – very attractive, though naturally she tried not to entertain those sorts of thoughts.

But a lot of good things happened that outweighed the annoyance of his fangirls. He gained incredible wavelength control and power, which – once mastered – would give him almost magical-like abilities. That was from consuming the soul of a witch and all the power and magic within it.

Mere days after becoming a Death Scythe, Maka and Soul met Marie, yet another Death Scythe who was to be their teacher and trainer. She was pretty, very kind, wore an eyepatch like a pirate, and Maka liked her instantly.

She started by interviewing them over cups of tea. Once she had an idea of their known capabilities, respective soul types, and such, she gave them a list of possible abilities they could train for. One ability stood out among the others…the ability to fly.

"Wait, is that actually possible?"

"Well yes, potentially. Maka, since you have a Grigori soul, which has wings, it stands to reason that the two of you may be able to resonate and give Soul's scythe form wings to fly. I'm sure you're familiar with Kim and Jackie?"

They both nodded, Maka grimacing ever so slightly at the reminder of Kim. She tried very hard not to be jealous of the girl for getting together with Ox, but it was tough.

After the Babba Yagga mission it was blatantly obvious that Ox had harbored feelings for Kim … probably for a very long time, and they finally got together after he saved her. They were obnoxious as a couple, being way too fond of PDA and cutesy nicknames and such. And it just rubbed her nose in what she couldn't have.

"Yes, well have you seen the two of them fly?"

"Oh, yeah, now that you mention it we have." Soul said, eyebrows raised. "But I just assumed that was a special case since Kim is a witch and Jacki is a torch-type weapon."

"Well, it is a special case. However, it's proof that the right combination of meister and weapon can result in flight. I believe you two also could possess this talent."

"Well that's what I wanna train for then. Flying would be so cool, right Soul?" Maka said, her grin wide and infectious.

He cocked an eyebrow and smirked at her for using his word. "Yeah. Definitely cool."

And so, they proceeded to train for flight.

"Alright. This is dependent on the both of you having the same the same desire and intention in your heads. You'll both need to strongly picture his weapon form with wings. After all, Soul doesn't naturally possess wings, so he's going to have to essentially borrow them from your soul Maka. You're going to have to be in perfect sync and want the same thing for it to work." She finished with a smile and added, "Good luck, little angel."

Being called an angel got to Maka and went straight to her head. It was nice being called something sweet instead of "dummy" or "idiot" like Soul usually did. It struck a nerve in fact, since she had been hearing Ox call Kim angel all over the place. That ugly head of jealousy reared up in her again before she ruthlessly pounded it flat with a mallet.

It didn't help in the least when she heard Soul scoff ever so softly, and she couldn't help but round on him. "What?!"

"Nothing."

"Is it so hard to picture me as an angel?"

There was silence, but she could practically hear the gears and memories rolling through his head. Those memories were probably full of her kicking him out of the window of their second story apartment, denting his head with her Maka Chop, and dragging him through the streets half-asleep to get to class on time.

"I always call you my little angel!"

Maka groaned at the new voice, which was unmistakably her father's.

Once again, Soul scoffed, and Maka scowled at them both. She turned to glare at her father fully and asked, "What are _**you**_ doing here?"

"I asked him to join us. He's a master at controlling his form and wavelength, so I figured it would help."

Maka just grimaced. "Great."

Huffing, she turned away from him – thoroughly hiding the hurt she still felt at Soul's brushoff in her secret box – and stalked out to the middle of the training field. She held out a hand to him sulkily and a wave of power burst out of him as he transformed.

The unexpected blast nearly had her staggering back, but she firmed up her stance and grabbed him smoothly as he landed in her palm. His form had changed. His hilt had gone black instead of silver, and was tipped in gold. His blade was still black and red in a jagged toothed pattern, but now had an added gold edge along the back of his blade. The back of his head was crested in a short arched golden spike, with two shorter spikes on either side. The position of the spikes made them look kind of like the plumage on a cockatoo…if a bird could have razor sharp plumage. Three vertical bands of gold also graced the top of the blade after his eye. It was pretty bad ass, she had to admit, and a large amount of her sourness evened out with pride and awe.

Then she refocused on the training. For her to fly on him, she would have to ride him somehow…which meant she'd have to figure out how to 'mount' him. Both words sprouted all sorts of other inappropriate thoughts that she also shoved in her private box. There was no need for Soul to get wind of the things drifting through her head without her permission. Pursing her lips, she did the only thing she could think of, and that was to use him like a witch's broom. That put him between her legs and the point of his blade sunk into the ground behind her.

She felt a shudder go through his soul wavelength, but it disappeared before she could ascertain the source of it. However, she could still feel his wavelength bouncing around rather erratically, but she didn't really question it since she was too excited by the prospect of flight and too preoccupied with keeping her brain clean and rated G.

"Excellent. Now, you're both going to have to try and picture wings and flight."

"Right." Both Soul and Maka chimed back.

She synchronized her soul more to his, and focused hard on a pair of pretty angel wings sprouting from where his blade connected to the hilt. Wind gushed around them, kicked up by the waves of power they emitted, and she could feel him begin to vibrate under her. The power ramped up, and then with a pop two wings appeared on either side of Soul. At the same time, his blade shrunk up nearly to the hilt.

She glanced back, to see two blades of light streaking out from the sides of his head, but they were more reminiscent of bat wings, sort of spiky and ugly.

"Those don't look like angel wings…" She pouted just a little, unable to help herself.

She felt Soul laugh and then sigh, sounding amused and also mildly disgusted with her. "So demanding…"

"Hey! Is it wrong for me to want pretty wings?!"

Soul didn't particularly care what sort of wings she wanted at this precise moment. In fact, he was amazed he had managed wings of any kind at all, and that they were actually leaving the ground – butt first though it may be. The butt in question was Maka's, not the butt of his hilt, which made sense considering that the wings were right behind her.

He was astounded he had managed this much because his soul was completely divided at the moment and about half of it was behind locked doors where Maka couldn't feel the mess of hormones, lust, and accursed blue ball syndrome he was currently experiencing. He should have expected that she would put him where she did. After all, it was where Kim put Jackie. But it had still shocked the hell out of him.

Apparently she was under the – very wrong – impression that he couldn't feel anything in his shaft or blade, such as physical sensations. That was completely untrue. He had always been able to feel her hands and every other body part he had rotated around when fighting. Of course, once he started to acknowledge that he desired her, even just the feel of her hands on him was kinda arousing. But this….was a whole different level of hell. He was used to her touching him with her hands in everyday life - they were very touchy friends after all - but there was no situation where she normally _sat_ on him.

Presently, he was getting an up close and very, very, _very_ personal feel of her groin area, which was pressed right up against him. At the very least she was wearing proper underwear and not some sort of thong…not that he would ever really pin her as a thong wearing kind of girl.

It was downright miraculous that he had managed to hide his _distracted_ state from her and keep the wonkiness of his soul mostly to himself. It helped that she was so excited over the prospect of being an "angel." Her mind was apparently somewhere else.

They rose up awkwardly, Maka nearly sliding off and having to clench him tight between her thighs and with her hands as she was tilted down the wrong way. Soul couldn't figure out how to pick up his 'nose' in this new flying configuration. It was weird to think of what was normally his 'head' – which was where his blade sat – as his new 'butt' and vice a versa with the end of his hilt.

"Picture her as an angel, Soul! Match your picture with hers!"

Maka's father's statement didn't help Soul's mindset at all. Right at this very moment, Soul simply couldn't picture Maka as anything but the source of his current misery, and it made him exceptionally cranky. Trying to picture her as an angel only sent him into fits of inappropriate thoughts of a naked Maka with angel wings – confusingly mixed with images of her Maka Chopping him… and yelling at him… and kicking him across the room.

The confusing mishmash of imagery sent his soul – and his form – into a barrel roll.

Maka was hard pressed to stay on, and after only a few seconds she was unceremoniously dumped. As soon as she tumbled off him, he fell as well and transformed. They landed in a tangled heap of limbs. He landed on top of her, but was swift to try and prop himself up so he wouldn't smoosh her flat. Not that he was particularly heavy or anything, they were basically the same height. Or had been until recently, when he grew a couple of inches – a fact he was inordinately proud of and had lorded over her probably too much.

Still, he wasn't huge, so he probably wouldn't crush her too, too badly. Mainly, the largest concern for him was that she might pick up on his hard-on more easily if it was pressed into her.

He swiftly tumbled off her and tucked his hands in his pockets as soon as he was in a slouched, somewhat sitting position. She coughed and glared at him.

"What the hell was that Soul?!"

He shrugged. "Guess we need more practice."

"No! I know you went berserk because of what my dad said. And you couldn't picture me as an angel!"

He let a tiny smirk curl his lip. "Well, it was sort of hard to combine with the Maka Chops. Imagining you wearing little fluffy white wings while you brained me was too funny." It was partially true. That particular thought had crossed his mind and was still hysterical when he imagined it. There was no way he was telling her the other images that had crossed his mind though.

At first, she snarled at him and it was obvious she was gearing up for a major hissy fit. Then she stalled as it seemed the image he planted had taken root. After a moment, even she couldn't hold back the small snort of amusement.

"Okay…I guess I can see your point." She sighed, conceding.

After a little break they decided to try again, and Maka said, "This time, how about trying just a little harder instead of practicing for your stand-up routine okay?"

He winced just a little and nodded, feeling somewhat bad about it now that his horniness had subsided.

"And let's try for angel wings this time okay?"

His wince this time was for a different reason.

Still, he was nothing if not loyal, and tried to do what she wanted even though he hated every minute of it. After a great deal of strain - since she was once again sitting on him after he transformed - he managed to pop out a tiny pair of fluffy angel wings. He could barely stand to look at them, they were so disgustingly cute, but at least Maka was happy. The way her soul glowed warm and joyful against his own was reward enough for the humiliation.

They eventually managed flight, though it was achingly slow and wobbly as fuck, mainly because it took so much concentration just to do that much. It was ridiculous just how badly it affected him to have her pussy smashed up against him like this. It didn't help that his hilt must not have been overly comfortable for her…resulting in a certain amount of squirming around, which knocked them off balance. That also gave him a horribly clear feel of her _there_ and how she had to accommodate this particular form. Wiggling her ass around and grinding against this shaft didn't help his horny situation to say the least. Or rather, it helped it along in the wrong way.

On Maka's side of things, she wasn't faring too much better.

It was indeed exceptionally uncomfortable and almost sort of painful to ride him. All of her weight rested on some very tender and sensitive areas, and no matter how she shifted she couldn't seem to find a comfortable position.

She firmly assured herself that he couldn't feel her pressed up against him so intimately, despite the fact that the unease and unstable nature of his wavelength might suggest something different. That was a fact she would rather left unknown, and she preferred to believe that he couldn't feel her panty covered bits. Because, if he could actually feel…then he would be feeling _everything_.

The way she was pressed up against him and the simple physics of the situation demanded that all her weight was resting between her legs. Not to mention she was balanced on a relatively narrow rod of metal - which was decidedly non-conformative. Her shifting was mostly to test what was most comfortable - resting on one side or the other, or having him rest in between - but all options were bad. The only thing she knew for certain, was that she couldn't put too much weight forwards, or a certain very nerve-packed bundle of sensation would be positively crushed against the metal and sent a shaft of pain up her spine.

It wasn't too bad for the first few minutes, but after that the discomfort slowly mounted and edged into the realm of pain.

The other thing that bothered her was simply the fact that it was her private bits that were in contact with Soul - even if he was in weapon form… and even worse was that the thought was exciting. That in and of itself was disturbing, but even more horrifying was the way her body actually physically responded. The pressure wasn't all bad, there was an edge of good hidden in there too, but she preferred to focus on the physical discomfort. It was simply too awkward to even think about the other stuff.

Things continued in this vein for about a week of training, before Marie enlisted Jackie and Kim to assist. The new Death Scythe and his meister had managed to maintain flight during their last few training sessions, even though it was still ever-so-slightly wobbly and excruciatingly slow. It was consistent, and Marie felt they were ready for a practical training exercise. She sent the four of them out to the training grounds located a certain distance from the city, and then back again. It was only a few miles out of the city they were supposed to fly, and on Soul's bike it would have taken maybe 15 minutes tops, especially at the speed he tended to drive. But flying…it was a decidedly less enjoyable trip, for both of them.

Over the week of training, Soul had either simply gotten more used to being perpetually located in boner-town or else he had gotten more control over his unruly and irritating body's reactions. It was probably the first option. It seemed on these little training flights, his dick was a constant and rather infuriating companion, and perhaps he had simply learned to ignore the little fucker. That didn't mean that he wasn't still aggravated by it though - because he very much was - but he somehow managed to not take it out on his meister. It wasn't her fault that his mind was a cesspool of perversion apparently…when it came to her at least.

Damn crushes to hell.

Maka also wasn't overly fond of flying astride Soul. It was a shame really, she had found that the overall sensation and giddy feeling she got while gaining altitude and swooping down was intoxicating and fantastic, if it weren't for the discomfort of riding Soul in this manner. She had even considered investing in a pair of women's biker shorts, the kind that were padded in the groin where a bicycle seat would typically dig in. In fact, by this point Maka was positive she'd have to fork over the ridiculous sum for the sporting wear, especially after this particular session.

Flying out of the city took well over an hour, and then getting to the training grounds Marie had pointed out on their map took yet another hour. Poor Jackie and Kim were exuding waves of impatience, and she was sure that she heard Kim mention something about being late for a test. This was why, on the home stretch, only a few miles out of town, Maka offered, "Hey, why don't you two go on ahead? We're almost back anyways, and I don't want to make you guys late for anything."

"You sure?" Kim called, a look of pure relief wiping her features clear of tension lines.

"Yeah, totally. Go on."

"Okay. Thanks! See you later!" The young witch called and they took off with a blast of flame.

Soul stayed quiet, but she could feel a ripple of unease play along his soul's wavelength.

"Okay…what is it?" She finally asked, skitters of unease now sending chills up her own spine.

"I dunno…but I've got a bad feeling. Like we're being watched."

She could understand the sentiment; she'd been getting the same sort of vibe ever since Jacki and Kim left.

"Yeah…me too." She muttered, switching on her soul perception and scanning the vicinity.

It took her a while, since the soul was at a good distance, and she might never have even noticed it as an anomaly…except for the fact that it was floating about the same height they were at. They were pretty high up, so unless there was a small airplane of some sort flying at them, there should be no reason for there to be someone up here.

Her suspicion ramped up another level when she noted that the shape of the other soul was like hers, possessing wings.

"Uh, Soul? I think we have an incoming visitor."

"Oh yeah? Where?"

She pulled his nose around to face the incoming threat.

She didn't even have to say, because at that moment the guy appeared right in front of them. Either he was very fast, or else he somehow managed to sneak up on them - although how he managed that with her soul perception, she wasn't sure. This close, she could clearly feel not only a very intense killing intent, but also dark magic filling his soul to the very brim. This enemy was not going to be easy to defeat or even hold off at their current level of flight.

The opponent hovered in the air, wearing black clothes seemingly engraved with golden magical letters, and wings sprouted from his wrist somehow.

"Are you Maka Albarn?" He asked in a slightly nasally voice.

"Who wants to know?"

"I do. I'm to kill you and bring your soul to a special person."

"This creep…" Soul growled through their sync line, his soul sparking with irritation.

Apparently the enemy made a positive identification somehow, because he didn't ask her again. He simply attacked.

"Woah!" Maka yelped as the guy zoomed past, nearly knocking them out of the air with a punch aimed at her face. They only just barely managed to dodge, and they weren't able to dodge the second attack that came as a kick from behind.

They both gasped and yelled as they were sent careening into one of the tall spires of stone that were located all over the training grounds. Maka made a sizable indent in the stone when she made contact, and drove Soul upside down into the rock face so as to perch a foot on his regrown blade and grab onto his handle which stuck strait up beside her. Of course he blunted the edge she stood on, though the soles and tips of her boots possessed steel cores.

"Damn, he's fast." She panted, her eyes darting around to spot him.

It was no use though, because the difference in their flight speed was so great that even when she did spy him there wasn't anything she could do to avoid his attack. He very nearly took out the spire of rock along with her. Thankfully, she had managed to mitigate the damage to herself with the little amount of evasion she could manage, and was merely sent cartwheeling through the air to land roughly against another rock tower. If that blow had been received full force, she would have undoubtedly obtained broken bones if not worse, but thankfully it felt like bad bruises were the extent of the damage so far.

"Maka! You okay?!"

"Yeah…" She coughed back to Soul, her breath coming in great heavy gasps now. He was once again stuck hilt up and blade first in the rock cliff-face with her standing on his blunted edge. It just seemed the best position to be in currently.

The enemy, whose name and motive were still unknown, attacked several more times. He also taunted them as he did it.

"So this is the meister and weapon who beat Arachne? And here I was actually looking forward to seeing some decent fighting…what a disappointment. Why on earth would _**he**_ want you in his personal collection? You're so weak."

What made his taunts even worse was the fact that Soul and Maka were unable to block or really properly evade any of his attacks, which resulted rather quickly in one extremely bruised, dirty, and _**pissed**_ meister.

"Damn it…" She growled, glaring back at the dinky, poufy, cute, little angel wings Soul had somehow managed to produce from his butt – which was technically his head.

He had hated them from the get-go, so to hear her gripe at them caused a smirk to form across his lips. On the other hand, he dreaded the words to come out of her mouth that he knew were coming next.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight with these half-assed wings?!"

And there it was…the thing Soul knew she was going to say. But to make a decent pair, they would have to fully resonate, a thing that he would be unable to accomplish without transmitting all his problems straight to her.

His little issue wasn't something he wanted her to know about, so – thinking really, really fast – he did the best he could to muster up every little annoyance, pissed off feeling he had over their tedious training, the stupid little wings he'd been forced to produce, and the jackass currently pounding them into the ground. When initiating resonance, he released all those and did his best to tuck away all his inappropriate thoughts about the meister currently straddling him. He could hide the thoughts specifically, but he couldn't conceal all the feelings they aroused in him, so the befuddled weapon did his best to hide them under the wave of anger in his soul. Passion and anger were close enough that he hoped his little problem would be camouflaged.

Maka didn't notice what was hidden; she was too busy burying her own thoughts and feelings on the matter.

Once everything was neatly tucked away as much as possible, she opened the floodgates, and was instantly swamped by a tsunami of crankiness that Soul had apparently been hiding from her. It was a mess of heat and tightness and aggravation that made his soul blistering enough to singe her own. He felt like he had reached some sort of boiling point. A little shot of guilt niggled at her soul as she realized probably a good deal of that irritation was directed at the wings she had asked him to make for her… not to mention how they had slowed them down to a ridiculous degree.

Strangely some of the heat coming from him sparked a different kind of warmth low in her gut, but she just dismissed it as indigestion caused by her impromptu impression of a baseball. There was something lurking under the surface, but she didn't have time to run diagnostics on it, she had a crazy person to defeat.

She accepted all his feelings on the matter, and opened her soul to his, allowing him to feel the regret she felt about it now, along with her determination to utterly kill this ass-wipe. Her rage was fed by Soul's and together they burned brightly.

Fueled by their resonance, a surge of power ran through them and suddenly they were in perfect balance - in perfect synchronization with one another. A sudden blast of light suffused them and cracked the stone around Soul's blade. The glow intensified there and grew to spread out wide from where those little angel puffs had been. His blade shrunk, and this time Maka didn't sit, she gripped his hilt with one hand and used the hold to pull herself up. She slid the foot that had been resting on his blade up the shaft and then slammed down her other foot at the same time she released her fingers from his hilt until he was horizontal and she was standing on him, perfectly balanced and unafraid of falling. He was an extension of her own body, and vice versa.

As they split away from the rock they had been perched on, a glorious set of wings unfurled from either side of his short blade, glowing brilliantly. This was a true pair of wings, like their opponent's, none of that silly cherubim nonsense they had been held aloft by before. No, these were real wings, feathery and glowing as bright and golden as the sun, but rimmed with silvery blue fire. She could feel the heat of them on her back as she proudly stood on Soul's hilt, and stared up at the enemy.

"Bring it Jackass. I will reap your soul."

"You? You think you can defeat me? HA!" He shouted back. "You don't deserve to be in Noah-Sama's collection! You-you-you filthy _woman_!"

Maka stared up at him, watching as his soul twisted even further, and it looked like it swelled with something remarkably sour. Jealousy?

"Why does this guy hate me so much when he doesn't even know me?!" She spat, crouching as Soul abruptly shot upwards to avoid the lunatic's next attack. Turning effortlessly, they snapped around to face him, fast enough to see the expression of shock smeared all over his smarmy face.

His lips turned into a shockingly sharp downwards V, and he almost looked like he just ate a lemon or was about to cry. "Take this!"

To their shock, his chest and belly opened up, as if it were a giant mouth, and a ball of energy built up in the maw, full of crackling dark magic and that creepy twisted wavelength he sported. Almost as disturbing was the way his face screwed up, as if in ecstasy as he screamed, "NOAH-SAMA!" and the blast discharged, spewing right at them.

"GAH! What is that?!" Maka shouted, easily zipping out of the way but watching with some horror as it hit one of the rock spires and a perfect circle was blasted through it.

"Hell if I know. But don't get hit by it."

"Brilliant observation, Soul." She muttered, and felt his chuckle warm her soul.

Enough was enough. Maka had had enough of dodging, she was gonna knock this sonofabitch's lights out.

Feeling her intentions, Soul punched the accelerator and Maka leaned forwards, crouching into the velocity. They came up too fast on him for him to duck, and Maka let him have her fearsome right hook. She twisted her whole body into the attack, sliding her foot further up the shaft to get even more power behind the punch. He was sent spiraling towards the ground, and was thoroughly distracted by getting his bearings.

Using his distraction, Maka grabbed Soul's hilt and flipped off him, holding him above her and spinning him as his form shifted to a scythe once again, the wings dispersing as his long blade came back out. Their decent was slowed somewhat by her own soul-wings, which she didn't even notice spread out wide as soon as his disappeared, but Soul of course noted as usual. They were even bigger this time around.

The guy turned his face up to look at them, but he was too late. They were already on top of him, and all he could do was curl his black wings around to meet Soul's deadly blade.

Maka could feel Soul slide off the surprisingly tough black wings, and disengaged, twirling him back under her feet easily, like a skateboarder remounting their board after an air trick. His wings popped back out with a blast of their combined wavelength and their descent was stopped in its tracks. He noted that her wings shrunk down and folded tight back into her body as they transferred to him. But he could still feel the feathery sensation of them in her soul caressing his own. He'd felt it before when she leant them to him, like feathers falling from her soul to his, but never this strong before. The sensation was soft and fluttery, almost ticklish, but he found that he liked it. Her soul's wings sounded like tinkling bells, a higher and purer note than any he had ever heard before.

Unable to resist teasing her, he popped off at the mouth with, "Heh, these new wings work a hell of a lot better than those others…right? Angel?" The endearment was only half a joke, a fact which he instantaneously shoved deep inside his closet so she wouldn't pick up on it.

A thrill went through her at the sound of him calling her that, and she wasn't entirely successful in hiding the fact. As for Soul, he tried not to put too much into the high notes of pure pleasure that went through her at his calling her that, despite the fact that they woke something within him that he doubted would be going back to sleep any time soon, if ever.

Maka of course hoped that he hadn't picked up on it, not knowing for sure if he had. There wasn't enough time for her to respond really, aside from a huffy, "Ffft, I liked the other ones too." She didn't comment on his teasing pet name, which she was sure was simply a joke.

They had an enemy to focus on, she couldn't be distracted.

And Mr. Emotional was gearing up for another shot. It almost looked like tears smeared his face as he once again cried out the name of…his lover? His boss? It was really hard to tell.

"You can't run from my feelings for Noah-Sama!" He yelled as an enormous ball shot out this time, and seemed to follow them even as they commenced evasive maneuvers. "You have to accept them! Before I'll ever allow you to be part of his collection!"

"What is he talking about?!" Maka grumbled as she wove back and forth on Soul, glaring back at the giant slow moving ball of creepy energy. "And where does he get off on having the nerve to follow us around with such a creepy wavelength!?"

"We can't run forever, we've gotta do something about that thing."

"Any suggestions?"

"I vote for brute force."

Mala couldn't hold back the snort of amusement. "Of course. I should have known."

Whipping around in mid-air, she turned to face the thing head-on, reaching down to grab Soul. Her hands flipped him out from under her feet and over her head within seconds, spinning him to gain some momentum. She fell for a brief second and then seemed to hang in space for a moment, which she didn't really notice. A blast of light came from them, and she matched her wavelength even closer to Soul's, linking them and feeling their combined souls produce that extra oomph of power.

"Demon Hunter!"

The vibrantly glowing ax-blade came down on the ball, which bent under the pressure and weight before finally ripping - ironically making the shape of a broken heart. Soul was the one to note this, since he had a good clear view of it from behind as she finished the swing and flipped him under her feet so they could zip away from the broken power ball – just in case it blew. He looked back at it as it hung there suspended in midair for a moment before it exploded. Maka was focusing forwards though, on their opponent.

Making a beeline right for the jerk, she hit him full-force with the butt of Soul's hilt, which had turned into his nose during flight form. Their opponent was winded and crumpled up, falling to the side as they kicked him aside and barged past. Once above, she flipped off Soul, bringing him around in a deadly arch as their enemy fell beneath them. "Witch Hunter!" Maka yelled, as Soul's blade flashed into the form of an iridescent glowing crescent moon, which struck the bastard right in his side, sending him packing for the ground at a rapid pace.

He landed with a boom. Before they could even contemplate what to do with him, he was coughing out something that sounded suspiciously like, "Damn it, I underestimated her…" and then of all things he pulled out a piece of paper and disappeared into it. Even the paper burst into flames and disintegrated into ashes, leaving them with nothing to identify him with.

They landed and stared at the little curl of smoke, both dumbfounded and confused by what just happened.

Soul summed it up succinctly with, "What the hell was that all about anyways?"

* * *

Author's Note:

And there ya go! A brand new shiny chapter. I hope you all enjoy. :D

This one had a little more heat to it. The tension is rising between Soul and Maka for sure. ;)


	15. Chapter 15

After being attacked, it was obvious that there was a new enemy on the scene.

This Noah person was an unknown, but his henchman was pretty powerful. Nobody knew what he was after, aside from apparently wanting to collect Maka. What had he wanted to collect her for though? In fact, what was his "collection" even referring to? Did he just collect people? And for what purpose? It was highly concerning.

Their group of friends held a meeting about it after she made her report to Lord Death.

"So, Maka, this guy said he was working for Noah, who apparently wanted you for his 'collection.' That's about it right? No other information?"

She shook her head. "No. Other than he seemed infatuated with his boss. He was screaming about how I should accept his feelings for Noah whenever he shot the cannon thing out of his stomach at me."

Black Star guffawed, and put words to what a few of them were thinking but were too polite to say. "Geeze, so his weapon was basically him jerking off at the thought of this Noah person in your direction?" He busted out into laughter. "Yeah, he shot his _feelings_ at you alright."

"Black Star!" Tsubaki gasped admonishingly.

Soul collapsed into snickers next to Maka, who was shocked by the direction the conversation had gone. She picked up on him muttering softly, "We got shot at by a fucking jizz cannon," under his breath.

"Soul!" Maka hissed, smacking the back of his head, in a similar sort of scolding to Tsubaki's.

"Oh come on Maka, you gotta admit it's accurate. I mean, aside from the fact that it looked like a giant mouth instead of a giant di-"

She stopped that sentence with a Maka Chop.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for?!"

"You know what."

"I am a grown man. I can say 'dick' in public if I want to!" He hissed, his red eyes narrowed and irritable.

He was right of course, it had been a knee jerk reaction on her part, but she would be damned before admitting to that or apologized for it. "Whatever, Soul."

Kid also seemed discomfited by the conversation, while his weapons seemed unfazed. Patty was highly amused and Liz didn't seem to care. Crona was flushed bright red, much more so than any of the other meisters, and Ragnarok had popped out of his back to start heckling the pink haired young man, teasing him ruthlessly for blushing. Maybe meisters were just naturally more prudish…with the obvious exception of Black Star.

But the point of this meeting wasn't to make inappropriate jokes, it was to discuss the new threat, specifically towards Maka, a fact which Kid reminded them of rather stiffly. Though they talked about it more at length, there wasn't much they could do. In the end they agreed that the others would try to hang around Maka more, and she shouldn't take any missions unaccompanied or venture outside of Death City alone. It rankled a little, but she agreed to it.

On their way home, she was dragging her feet behind Soul, caught up in her thoughts. Once again she felt like she was weak, unable to take care of herself despite proving without a doubt that she could by beating that guy. But having to be with someone else at all times was infuriating. Soul could sense that she needed her space, and so he walked a little ahead of her, waiting at the corner of every street for her to catch up before he crossed.

It was for this reason that she managed to overhear the hushed conversation and Soul didn't.

Crona had left early, seeming more shifty and uneasy than usual, and though Maka had been concerned for him she had stayed. But the sound of his voice in an alleyway as she passed instantly caught her attention, even more than it normally would have since she was already worried about him. He had been acting off lately, and she couldn't help but be extra aware of it.

To her shock, she overheard another voice talking as well, a voice which she recognized as one of Medusa's lackeys. What was Crona doing talking to a witch? Especially after Medusa stabbed them all so badly in the back. Easing up closer, she listened in on the conversation, feeling a wave of guilt at spying on her friend. Surely there had to be a reasonable explanation for this…

"Good job Crona…planting that microphone in Marie just like we asked. Ha, and she didn't even suspect a thing."

Maka had to cover her mouth to muffle her hissed breath of shock. What the hell? So Crona really was double crossing them? It simply didn't compute, not with everything she knew about him. The last thing he would want to do was to have anything to do with his twisted witch of a mother. Her soul perception revealed what she already suspected, a wobbly dim soul that spoke of anxiety and probably a great deal of fear inside her friend. It was perfectly clear to her that he wasn't completely on board with this plan, though disturbingly she could see some sparks of something disturbingly close to loyalty. Could he possibly still harbor some sense of devotion to his mother?

It was impossible for her to tell if he was being blackmailed, or was just so easily controlled by her that he simply couldn't tell her 'no.' That was dangerous. Either way, she held much too great a sway over him if he could be used to spy on them and do other dirty work.

Her mind was a jumble of messed up nonsense, and she couldn't make heads or tails of it. What exactly was she supposed to do now? She had clearly seen evidence that Crona was working as a spy for Medusa, so undoubtedly she should now go to Lord Death with the information. But what if that meant they would imprison him again? It would probably be for the best, and might even be best for Crona since it might help to protect him from his crazy mother. There were worse things that could happen though. It wasn't like there was a death penalty exactly, not that this really warranted such a thing…but what if…

He would undoubtedly be punished. That was for certain. And she couldn't quite stand the thought that it would be because of her ratting him out. It just didn't feel right. But staying quiet didn't feel too good either. Hell, she hadn't even been able to fully process it yet, how was she supposed to make a decision now?

"Oi! Maka! Hurry up!" Soul called back, sounding aggravated.

The voices in the alleyway hushed, and thankfully Maka was on the correct side of the alley so she didn't have to cross the mouth and be spotted by them. Hurrying away from the alley very quietly, she called back to him as soon as she had put some distance between them. Hopefully they wouldn't think she had been eavesdropping, that could put Crona in serious trouble with Medusa if they thought he had been found out. He would have to be protected.

After finally getting home that evening, Maka couldn't bring herself to talk about what she had heard. But it never left her mind, and there it sat and festered, slowly rotting and stinking up her brainwaves until she couldn't think of anything but that.

What could she do? How could she help Crona? Was he double-crossing them of his own free will, or was he being coerced into it? How could he do such a thing? Did Medusa really hold so much power over him? Should she tell Lord Death? Would not telling the authorities be criminal? Would it make her a bad person?

The questions that plagued her seemed endless, and soon it felt like she had been on a merry go round for way too long… only there was nothing 'merry' about this trip. She couldn't help but question herself, and then question her answers, wondering which answer would make her worse of a person. Not telling Lord Death about a spy was criminal, and could result in lots of people getting hurt if Crona gave away the wrong information or was coerced into doing something worse than just spying. But telling on him would betray her friend – never mind the fact that he was already betraying her – and would result in him getting punished, probably very severely.

She was positive that he was being blackmailed, though the doubt that he wasn't and had been a spy from the get go ate at her like a rat trapped in her brain. Mostly though, she was ninety percent sure that he wasn't doing this of his own free will. His soul had been conflicted, very shaky and fearful, and the insanity had tainted him again in a way it hadn't since she purified it. That could only be the result of him getting bullied into doing something that he knew was wrong and didn't want to do...right?

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice how Soul had been giving her weird looks for the entire night.

He could easily pick up on the fact that something was very wrong with Maka. She wasn't speaking, and though she could be pensive and untalkative on occasion – especially when a book was in front of her – this silence was distinctly different. There was nothing… zip, zero, zilch. Her eyes stared into space and she refused to even look at him. That, paired with the not-talking thing spelled B A D. Something must have happened on the way home; she hadn't been this way when they left the meeting at Kid's house.

She had been dragging her feet the whole way back it seemed, though there was one time in particular that stood out to him where she simply seemed to get stuck somewhere and he was waiting at the street corner for what felt like five whole minutes. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore.

"Maka. Talk to me would ya? What the hell is wrong?"

She glanced at him with those glassy eyes, and then muttered, "Nothing…"

"Bullshit."

He stood and walked across the room to stand in front of her where she was sitting on the couch. His arms crossed across his chest and he stared down at her. When she refused to look up at him, he decided to kneel so he could force eye contact more easily.

Once he was on level with her, she shifted her gaze to the side and still refused to meet his. With a huff of frustration, he did the first thing that came to mind, and that was to reach forwards and snap his fingers right in her face. She jerked back, startled, and then finally looked at him to give him a glare.

"What was that for?!"

"You know perfectly well. Now, tell me what's going on. Something bad happened on the way home didn't it?"

She winced, confirming his suspicion, but still refused to tell him.

"What happened, Maka? Did you see something?"

Another wince, and she finally seemed to be close to cracking. Her mouth twitched, trembled faintly, and her lips pressed tight together. Then she blinked rapidly, and when her eyes began to water he knew why she was fluttering her eyelids so much…she was trying not to cry. This must be even worse than he thought to actually be bad enough to get her to cry.

"Damnit Maka!" He cussed, and was unable to keep himself from grabbing her arms, giving her a little shake. "Tell me!"

Finally she met his eyes, and there was such a deep sorrow and confusion there that he felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He hated that look on her face, and swore he would destroy whatever had caused it.

"I…I saw Crona. He was talking to that frog witch, the one who was helping Medusa." She sniffled.

For a long moment it seemed she was going to clam up again as she struggled to hold back the tears, but then the dam broke and she started crying in earnest. He instinctively pulled her off the couch and into his arms so he could try to comfort her. She went willingly, nearly fell into him, and started to sob into his shoulder – which she had only _rarely_ done before…like maybe once or twice. His chest squeezed tight and painfully, and he tried to wait patiently for her to calm down enough to tell him more.

Finally she mumbled into his shirt, "Crona's working with Medusa…I heard them talking about it. But he obviously wasn't happy about it." After a few more sniffs, she pulled back and stared at him with watery eyes. "What do I do? If I tell Lord Death then Crona will be…he'll be punished. I know Crona isn't doing this of his own volition. I can't…I can't betray him like that…"

"You have to tell Lord Death. If Crona is being coerced into spying, then he needs to be better protected so they can't get to him. The only way that'll happen is if he's under Lord Death's shelter."

For a long moment she stared into his eyes, and then finally she blew out a deep breath that had seemed stuck in her chest for a very long time. "Yeah. You're right. But…"

"I'm sure Crona will forgive you. After all, you're doing it to help him."

"I guess so. It just feels like I'm betraying him somehow."

"Sure. You're not a tattle-tail by nature, so of course it feels weird."

It was about this time he realized she was practically in his lap and he still had his arms wrapped around her, and they were talking nearly nose to nose. So, with a slightly uncomfortable clearing of his throat, he shifted back so he was sitting separate from her. One of his arms dropped off her, while he lifted the other and awkwardly patted her on her shoulder to try and still offer some comfort.

"Thanks Soul…" She murmured, thankfully still frazzled enough it seemed that she hadn't noticed the awkward moment.

"Yeah. No problem. Of course this would have been a lot easier if you'd just talked to me to begin with…" He groused, unable to stop himself. But to soften the criticism, he gently tousled her hair, which wasn't in its normal pigtails. That was something of an impulse, and he sort of regretted the action when the sensation of her soft hair made him want to run his fingers through it more thoroughly.

Her lips pursed and she stared up at him from under her eyelashes in a sulky manner as she almost pouted. "Oh please…it's not like you don't hide stuff from me."

She had him there, but he certainly wasn't going to let on that she was right. He shifted his eyes off to the side and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, well, we can't keep stuff like _this_ a secret, okay? It's not just us at risk here, if Crona really is a spy, then that could put us all in danger."

"True." She sighed. "I was being too emotional I suppose."

"Naw. It's cool Maka. I'm just glad you told me."

After a slight pause, she softly asked, "Would you mind coming with me when I tell Lord Death?"

That was a bit surprising, but he had no objections. It seemed she needed a little more support than normal, but he was more than happy to provide. After all, he was her loyal partner and weapon, not to mention friend…and more (in the secret of his heart at least.)

So, first thing next morning, they made a trip to the Death Room and requested an audience with Lord Death in person.

"Maka! Soul! Hey there! How's it going?" The tall black clothed reaper asked in his normal chipper, hyper voice.

"Well, Sir, you see, I happened to come across something really disturbing yesterday." Maka started, and Soul stepped back to let her do all the talking.

"All right! Let's hear all about it then!"

Maka nodded, and they took seats at Lord Death's little tea table. He offered them tea as well, which Maka accepted and Soul declined.

And then Maka told him her story. "As I walked home, I saw Crona in an alleyway talking to the frog witch that works with Medusa. Naturally it set off all my alarm bells and I stuck around to listen in on their conversation. They were talking about him spying for Medusa. I couldn't believe it, so I used my soul perception on Crona. He seemed greatly distressed. I think they're somehow coercing him, forcing him against his will to do this."

For a long moment Lord Death seemed in deep contemplation. When he spoke, for once he spoke seriously instead of in a playful tone of voice. "Thank you for telling me this. I know it mustn't have been easy for you, seeing how close you are to Crona. I can assure you, if he isn't doing this of his own free will, then there will be no repercussions. He will, however, be protected and put under close security to prevent them from getting to him. Or…perhaps, if he is willing, he could be a double agent for us. Of course, if he's not comfortable with that I won't force him."

Maka breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Of course! Now, aren't you late to class? Run along kiddos. I'll take care of it from here."

"Right!" Maka stood, and was about to leave when she suddenly turned and asked, "If it's not too much to ask, could you let us know when you find Crona and…" She trailed off.

"No problem. I'll keep you aware of the situation."

And so, they went to classes and everything seemed like it was back to normal and set to rights. Maka felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders and floated from class to class like a feather on a breeze.

That didn't last long though. At the end of the day, after her last class, Maka was called back to the Death Room.

It was there that Lord Death solemnly informed her that there was no hint of Crona to be found. The theory was that he had been kidnapped by Medusa.

Maka went home feeling like she had been run over by a train.

Things just went from bad to worse, because only a few days later, Kid also went missing. At first they assumed he had been taken by Medusa, or that someone else entirely had taken the two DWMA students…but soon it became clear that he had been taken by this Noah person. Maka was once again called in for consultation, since she had been the only one to have contact with someone who claimed to be under the service of Noah. She was told how Patty and Liz had seen Kid taken, absorbed apparently into a book which they heard the man call, "The Book of Eibon." They hadn't been able to do anything to help and instead had chosen to escape and tell Lord Death about it since they were so outclassed by this person who had introduced himself to Kid as Noah.

Maka told them about how the guy who had attacked her had vanished into a piece of paper, but now that she thought about it, it did look like it could have been a page from a book.

Shortly after that, they managed to capture the frog witch, and she confirmed that Medusa had indeed taken Crona.

So, it seemed they had three enemies to worry about now. Medusa, this mysterious Noah person, and of course the Kishin, who was still at large. The entire DWMA went into panic mode, and Lord Death formed a special squad composed of the top students. They were named Spartoi by Stein, and were even given special uniforms, which seemed similar to school uniforms but were more military looking. They were allowed to make adjustments and requests on their individual uniforms, but the colors were all the same and there were similarities in the design so they definitely appeared as a unified squad. They also had special badges that they strapped around their upper arms over their squad coats.

They each were given forest green jackets, though they could chose the style and cut, and they all wore black pants or skirts. Maka chose to have a long trench coat style jacket, though it ended in two tails. The front was in a fencing style, with a flap that crossed over her chest and buttoned on the other side and down her torso; though she tended to leave the top few buttons open so it folded over like a lapel. She chose to wear a navy blue skirt and black thigh highs with her normal boots.

Soul chose more of a bomber style jacket, with a few pockets in front, and he wore it open over black or white t-shirts with minimal graphics, along with his black pants and a black pair of boots. He looked pretty kickass in Maka's opinion. The others also on the squad were Kilik's team, Ox's team, Kim and Jacki, and of course Black Star and Tsubaki, as well as Kid's team (minus Kid at the moment.)

They were given greater privileges, such as being able to request missions if it pertained to their overall goal – which at this moment was to recover the two kidnapped students, uncover as much information about the three enemies as possible, and try to take them down if possible, though that would of course also involve much higher up people than them. Mostly they were in charge of the kidnappings and information gathering.

Meanwhile, far away in a rather unpleasant swamp full of misleading vector arrows, a certain witch and her son were holed up. The son in question was currently unaware of the help being gathered to try and rescue him. Despite that, he continued to hold the conviction that at least one person would come and find him…Maka. He had no doubts that she would rescue him, which gave him the strength to hold out against his mother's continued torture.

Even Ragnarok seemed to miss Maka, and didn't play along in the torture the way he used to.

It had started out as expected; she had first tried being sweet and loving to him, and then turned cold. She switched back and forth until he was off balance and teetering in place, and then she threw him into a pitch black cell. In the past, Ragnarok would have taken the opportunity to strike him, cuss him out, and do all sorts of unpleasant evil things to him, but this time he just remained silent.

After a while, he had popped out of Crona's back, but only to ask, "So…you really think she'll come for us?"

"Yes." Crona replied, short and sweet, because there was nothing else to say about it. He had absolute faith and trust in her.

He kept his eyes closed and tucked his face into his knees to block out the blackness of the room. It helped to ground him in the sensory deprivation.

"I hope you're right. It sucks being back here."

Crona made some sound of agreement, and then there was silence between them.

But slowly he could feel himself succumbing to the darkness…

Meanwhile …

Kid wasn't having a fun time either.

After being snatched up into the book, he had occupied himself by organizing the contents neatly, because he simply couldn't abide the state of it. After some time of that he was removed due to messing up its owners bookmarks. He was then chained to the wall instead, and that proved to be a very dangerous position.

There was one nutcase in the service of Noah, who apparently loved him greatly, and so he was quite jealous of Kid and Noah's interest in him. Thus he was soundly beaten on a regular basis. The beatings Kid could handle…even though they weren't pleasant by any means. However, he was a Soul Reaper, and his body was strong and capable of withstanding a great deal of abuse.

What made things much worse though, was when Gopher discovered his weakness…symmetry. Very quickly, he was tortured in horrible inhumane ways…only having one half of his face drawn on, only one of his sleeves being torn off, and the like. It very quickly reduced him to a sobbing mess.

…

Back in Death City, there was a certain meister who simply couldn't handle the loss of two close friends one right after another.

She held herself together in the meeting with Lord Death, perhaps because she had been in shock upon learning about Kid's capture, and then being put onto a special squad, but after getting home it had hit her full force. What was going on? Why was all this happening at once? Were Medusa and this Noah person working together? And if not…why…why had two of her closest friend been stolen from her within days of each other? She had already been a mess over Crona, who she felt responsible for. He was here because of her, she had been in his soul…healed his insanity to the best of her ability, made him happy…and now…he was gone.

She couldn't bear the thought of what was happening to them. Maybe they were simply in cells somewhere…

Crona of course she couldn't convince herself, because Medusa had been the one behind his kidnapping and Medusa was less than kind. She would undoubtedly be torturing Crona, in the horrible twisted way she had before, only worse now probably as a punishment. Maka had seen glimpses of those horrors when inside of him, sneak peaks of being starved, held in pure and utter darkness for days, weeks, endless stretches of time for young child, abandoned and uncared for, used as a weapon and nothing more. There were even worse memories, ones which Maka had cringed at and blocked to the best of her ability at the time. But now they all came forth: images of him being forced to kill a tiny defenseless baby dragon creature, which she had the horrible feeling had actually been a pet, the feel of his soul cracking in two as he stared at the blood on his hands and pooling on the floor, and that insanity pouring into the open wound.

Her only consolation was that maybe Kid was in a better place. But probably not. He was also likely being tortured.

And here she was, sitting safe and sound on her bed. It just didn't seem right. What gave her the right to be unharmed, warm and comfortable, in her own home, when two people she loved were being tortured?

So wrapped up was she in her own mental and emotional turmoil, that she closed herself off so completely she didn't even feel the resonance of her weapon. His soul was rebuffed by the barrier around her heart. He couldn't even touch her, and she didn't even notice the attempts. She barely even heard him calling for her, or how he banged on her door.

"Maka! Hey! Maka! Open this goddamned door! Open up!"

It was all background noise to the sobs ripping from her chest.

She was forced to acknowledge him though, when it sounded like he body-slammed against the door.

Her voice cracked as she shouted, "St-stop it! Just-just leave me alone Soul…"

Again…why should she be allowed the luxury of comfort when her friends couldn't be comforted? She couldn't be there for them, they were separated from their friends and family, from all the people they loved. Somehow, she just didn't feel right accepting Soul's attempts to make her feel better. She didn't want to feel better. The pain she felt right now was probably only a modicum of what they were experiencing, but at least in this she could be there with them…somehow. If she could feel the same suffering, maybe they wouldn't be alone.

Yes…it was an illogical notion, but it was the only thing she could do for them. She could only hurt alongside them.

As for Soul, he was over it already. He simply couldn't stand seeing Maka so miserable, and feeling her soul so loud and clear ripping itself apart. Though she refused to resonate with him, or allow his soul in, he could still feel her. Her emotions were so loud they were practically screaming at him. The sound was akin to a horror film's worst shriek as some poor virgin was eaten by a monster bit by little bit. It grated his nerves, set his teeth on edge and made him want to actually scream, not just in his soul.

And so, he did the only thing he could think of. But first he warned her of his intentions. "Maka, if you don't let me in there by the time I count to ten, I am going to break this door down."

She apparently didn't believe him, or maybe she just couldn't hear him, because there was no indication that she was going to open the door as he slowly counted down from ten. He couldn't blame her. After all, he'd already body-slammed against the door without knocking it down, but this time he had every intention of actually busting it in if he had to.

Once he reached zero, he called out once more in warning. "All right I'm coming in. Stay away from the door so I don't hurt you."

Putting words to action, he stepped back, and then stomped one boot hard into the face of the door with all his might. It creaked, but didn't give, so he did the next thing that came to mind. He cut off the doorknob with a blade, and then gave the door another solid kick. This time it swung open with a bang. It exposed Maka as she abruptly sat up in bed, her face utterly messed up with tears, and she screeched at him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! You can't just barge in here like this! I told you I don't want to talk! Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

"Sorry about that. I did warn you." He spoke carefully, and slowly took a few steps into the room, feeling uncomfortable but determined. He kicked the door closed behind him, just in case this went south. He didn't really want Blaire to witness his murder, if she came home unexpectedly.

"Get out!"

"No can do. I can't leave you like this."

She apparently had no more words for him, and he flinched as she simply screamed in frustration and then buried herself under her covers. It wasn't long before he could hear the sound of sobs and see the form of her shaking. That left him to slowly approach her bundled up shape with some trepidation. Either she was going to accept his offered comfort, or she was going to brain him with a tremendous Maka Chop.

Very gently, he eased himself down to sit on the bed next to her, and very lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. When she didn't immediately respond in a negative way, he gave it a soft rub, trying to be comforting. That slowly transformed into him rubbing soothing circles into her hunched back. Her sobs seemed to taper off, and eventually she was hiccupping to a temporary stop.

Finally her tiny muffled voice came from under the covers. "They don't have anyone to comfort them…"

It seemed like she was trying to protest. As if she wanted to put herself in their place, which was ridiculous.

"Maybe. But you do."

At that, she finally emerged from under the covers and practically crawled into his arms. It was so unexpected that he wasn't entirely sure how to respond, but after a brief moment he unfroze and wrapped his arms tightly around her, using one hand to resume the circles on her back. Her crying jag restarted, and she began to dampen his t-shirt with her tears. He held her for the rest of the night, and she continued to cry for a very long time before eventually crying herself to sleep. At that point he eased them to sit propped up against the headboard with some pillows to try and minimize the cricks in their necks and backs tomorrow morning. He tried to stay awake for as long as he could, to keep his arms wrapped around her, but eventually he succumbed to sleep as well.

* * *

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay guys, I was sick.

Anywho, I hope everyone enjoyed this new chapter!

I know some of you probably don't like Maka showing this sort of emotional 'weakness' though, so for anyone out there who isn't fond of that, hopefully this wasn't too bad. Personally, I don't see it as a weakness. Survivor's guilt is definately a thing that lots of people suffer from.

Anyways, I felt like Maka would have an especially hard time with Crona's capture, since she was in his soul and helped him in such an intimate and powerful way. I mean, they definately have a special bond, for sure.

But of course I hope everyone enjoyed the silly parts in the beginning too. :D

I'll try to update more regularly again. Every week if possible.

As always, a huge shout out and thanks to everyone who had reviewed this story so far. You guys are awesome!


	16. Chapter 16

Crona and Kid had been missing for weeks, before anyone got wind of anything.

As soon as the call came in that someone matching Crona's description had attacked a base in Russia, where a Death Scythe and his meister were located, Spartoi was instantly deployed.

Maka insisted on going, even though there was some skepticism. Everyone was worried she wouldn't be able to attack Crona, even though it was obvious that he had been turned against them again. If it weren't for Soul - who stepped up and plainly pointed out that she was the one who had snapped him out of the insanity the first time around - she probably wouldn't have been allowed to go.

And so, they were all shipped off to the land of snow and ice and Russian accents … and vodka Liz pointed out. Liz and Patty had been especially active in Spartoi, though of course their main objective was to find Kid. Really, that was everyone's main objective. Aside from the few that had actually managed to befriend Crona, most viewed him as an insignificant loss compared to Death the Kid, son of Lord Death himself. So it was somewhat ironic that the pinkette had been found first.

They shipped out immediately though and made haste to Russia. On the last stretch, Maka couldn't help but notice that Soul started to get antsy and through their constant low-level soul connection she felt waves of unease beginning to roll from him.

As the frigid Russian coast came into view from their little boat, she eased closer to him and softly murmured, "What's wrong Soul?"

He shook his head, red eyes firmly fixed on the base they could now make out. "I dunno. But something just doesn't feel…right."

The fact that he hadn't brushed it off and played cool like he usually did suggested that something must really feel not right to him. They were approaching quickly so she didn't have time to interrogate him about it, but she kept close tabs on how his wavelength felt.

Shortly thereafter they arrived at the base.

Dr. Stein met with the person that had been sent to greet them and take them to wherever the problem was – a Russian meister named Alexei. First he directed them to a cell, where they had managed to keep Crona. Everyone was pretty shocked they'd been able to capture him. Their guide described how he had shown up in a nearby village first, completely out of control and nutso. He had gone on a rampage, and when they showed up, he fought them as well, all the way back to the base - which was where the other problem was now located. Alexei described how eventually - after seeming to blow a fuse - he apparently went limp and essentially turned himself in. It probably wasn't his intention to do so, but apparently he ran out of whatever madness had him in its grips, and he simply ran out of spiz. They had found it relatively easy to capture him after that.

The group was led to the cell and they all peered through the tiny window slot in the door at Crona, who was trussed up in a straitjacket made of what looked like metal of some sort, and then wrapped in chains for good measure. It was pretty obvious he had made an impression on these guys. Though Maka wanted to instantly enter the cell and deal with him, there was another matter than needed tending to first. During his rampage, it seemed he had created a ball of black blood, and that ball had captured both Death Scythe and meister who were posted here.

They followed the guide to yet another heavy duty cell, this one with an even thicker door, and they peered in through the slot. Sure enough, there was a giant black orb sitting in the middle of the room, and even through the barrier of the door they could feel the itchy dark sensation of powerful insanity coming from inside. Stein obviously couldn't go in, not with his current ever-so-slightly unstable condition.

"I think you would be the best option to investigate this, Maka. With your anti-demon soul wavelength, you may be the only person capable of entering without succumbing to madness. Hopefully resonance will help Soul to also stay sane."

The two of them nodded, and Soul grabbed hold of her hand so that the physical contact could help him to maintain an even closer resonance with Maka. The door was cracked open just enough for them to slip inside.

Once in the room, the madness washed over them like a tsunami, but it was manageable with Maka's purifying wavelength. She could feel Soul's wavelength wobbling a little though, so she sent a surge of warmth to bolster him, which seemed to stabilize his soul. His fingers squeezed hers a little in thanks. Using soul perception, she looked into the dark ball, and saw that both weapon and meister were still alive in there, but were trapped in the darkness.

"They're still alive." She murmured, shocked and horrified by their fate. To be lost in madness for the rest of their lives was truly a horrible end. She only too clearly remembered her brief visit to that terrifying plain of existence.

"Maybe we could cut it open."

It was a good suggestion, but Maka was hesitant. Biting her lip, she eyeballed the mass of badness, not sure if they could cut it or if it would suck them in too. If it sucked either of them, it would be Soul that would be the most affected, and she didn't want to risk him getting hurt.

Still, they couldn't just leave them there without at least trying to help, so after a moment of hard thinking she nodded. "Okay, but you're going to have to use my anti-demon wavelength."

"Sure."

Without another word he transformed and his hand changed into his hilt which she gripped in her fist. Taking a deep breath, she matched her wavelength to Soul's and activated resonance, which gave her a good feel of just how tortured his soul was at simply being in this room. The dark blood was doing its best to drag him down, and she could vaguely hear the cackling of that little red demon she'd only seen once. Without further ado she amped up her anti-demon wavelength to the highest she could, and tried to flood Soul with it. A lot of the darkness receded, but she couldn't seem to get it back to where it normally was.

"I'm cool Maka, don't worry about me. Let's just get these guys free and then get out of here."

"Okay."

Taking a deep breath, she rotated Soul a couple of times around her wrists, and then took a running start at the thing. With a yell she whipped Soul's blade down through the center of the black blob.

Two things happened instantaneously. First, they were knocked back as if they'd bounced off tough rubber. Second, Soul's wavelength abruptly cut off as if their resonance had been severed by a pair of cosmic scissors. The shock from both sent them flying back through the air and separated them – Maka going one way to hit the wall and Soul the other to clatter to the floor.

"Soul!"

There was no response to her cry, and she peeled herself from the wall as fast as possible to try and locate him. He wasn't lying where he fell though. He had transformed back to his human form.

"Soul?" Maka murmured, taking a hesitant step forwards, but she froze instantly when his red eyes flashed up to meet hers.

There was nothing of the Soul she knew in that demented gaze, nor in the crazed smile that spread his lips wide and exposed all his sharp teeth.

Things had just gotten very bad.

They got even worse when several scythes suddenly flashed into being, one across his chest at a very familiar angle, one from over his shoulder, and one from his elbow. None of them were the familiar black and red theme though…no, instead they were white, striped with black in a pattern that took her a second to recognize.

"Piano?" She muttered to herself, suddenly realizing just what was imprinted over his blades. They were black and white keys.

That evil grin widened across his lips in response, and he brought up a hand to the scythe arching across his torso. Long piano fingers lightly trailed over the keys, and then with a violent motion he speared his fingertips into them, sending out a sound that nearly had her doubling over with instant, unexpected agony. It felt like she had been punched in the gut…only a hundred times worse and deeper. The hit had gone right through her to impact her soul, and it carried the heavy weight of insanity as cargo. It was lucky she had the kind of soul that she did, because it was easy enough to purify the madness from herself, but it still left her winded and shaky and aching like she had the flu.

She almost expected the sudden lunge he made towards her, but it still took her somewhat by surprise and she stumbled backwards, only barely managing to dodge the blow from a sharp piano scythe which ended up buried in the wall next to her instead. She was now pinned against the wall, one blade across her chest pressing into her front and another buried deep in the wall next to her head.

Her mind raced back and forth, trying to find a way to pull him out of the madness. The only thing she could come up with, was that she needed to buy herself some time. She had to be able to fight him, while simultaneously sending her soul on a hunt... and the only time that had ever worked was when she was insane and fighting Crona. Which was why, when his fingers found piano keys again, she didn't fight the black blood that suddenly rose up within her. She let it take her body over, welcoming it in fact. It would allow her to fight him with impunity, the black blood preventing any deep wounds from his scythe and driving her body to battle him – which would free up her soul to do what it needed to.

Meanwhile, Soul wasn't entirely aware of what was going on outside of his soul-space. He had been trapped there, ensnared by black blood that rose up his soul like clingy living tar. The little demon was very much in attendance, and had grown.

"Now, now Soul, you and I both knew this day would come. It was just a matter of time before I replaced you in the driver's seat. Just sit back and relax."

"Like hell!"

The demon's only response was to grin at him broadly, and Soul watched, horrified as the thing slowly morphed in shape. It seemed to be absorbing him, eating him almost. As his body was consumed, the demon began to turn into him, a mirror image evil doppelganger.

He instinctively did the only thing he could think of to save himself. He cut off the part of his soul that was already ensnared, and then made a run for it. That last tiny shred of his untainted soul took shelter in the deepest chamber of his soul-space and locked itself away in a box. He was now sealed away, in a pitch black room aside from a spot of light shaped like a keyhole. He huddled on the "ground," though it almost felt like he was floating in here, and hoped like hell Maka discovered some way out of this mess. It was entirely up to her now, and he couldn't help but feel inescapably weak and pathetic for allowing this to ever happen.

He certainly wasn't aware of what was going on outside his soul-space. If he had been, he probably would have been unable to look the rest of their team mates in the eye for a solid month.

… meanwhile…

When they didn't come out after a few minutes, and some sounds of battle began to resound through the door, the rest of their party risked a peek in through the peep hole in the door. What met their eyes shocked them all. Soul and Maka were fighting each other, and not in a manner even remotely close to normal. Maka seemed to have been possessed by the black blood, so she was weaving and wobbling around, and was unfazed by Soul's blades. He could only cut her shallowly, and then her black blood would harden and prevent him from cutting any deeper. Meanwhile, Soul had also obviously gone berserko, and was wielding some powerful looking piano scythes from every part of his body.

That wasn't necessarily the most shocking thing though.

They were going at it like animals, wild and unrestrained…. but there was also an edge of something else to their actions. In the way they pinned each other, pressed up against each other, strained together, it was very nearly inappropriate.

Using his soul perception, Stein could see that Maka's soul was currently disengaged and searching for Soul's missing one, and so all that was left was the insanity… which was ruled by their base urges. Fighting and sex essentially, though for the second to be present, the bodies already had to at least unconsciously be attracted to each other. Of course Stein already knew the two idiots were crushing on each other, so he wasn't particularly surprised.

"Alright, we'll give them some time to sort this out on their own." He said, and definitively snapped the viewing plate back over the peep hole in the door.

…

As for Maka, she left her body to madness and dove deep within herself, retreating to that black abyss she remembered from months ago. Had it already been that long? Somehow time here was irrelevant.

Drifting, her consciousness was vaguely aware of herself and Soul ping-ponging around the room with the black blood ball, going at each other like wild animals. Every so often a blast from his piano sent a shudder of pain through her, reaching her soul even here, but she dismissed it. She had to focus solely on finding Soul. He was so close; she could feel the heat of him, the vibration of his soul trembling the space all around her. All she had to do was focus, reach for him, and suddenly she could see him - his soul twisted and laced with blackness.

She reached out and grabbed ahold of him, before thrusting herself into his soul. She opened her eyes from the darkness to a familiar piano room, but it lacked its normal occupant. The red drapes seemed darker than normal, stained with shadows, and the floor was ankle deep in black mirror-like liquid, which she had to wade through in her search for Soul.

It took her a few moments to note the appearance of a new door, and could distinctly feel his soul coming from there. Without hesitating even a moment, she stepped towards the door, despite the madness she could feel crawling along the walls and making the handle slimy. She proceeded down the dark hallway, ignoring the black squirming behind her and all along the ceiling and walls of the passageway.

When she began running, it was a natural progression of speed as she felt herself growing closer to where his soul was hidden away, and she called out desperately. "Soul! I'm coming! Hang on!"

This was the deepest she had ever been inside of Soul, and she stalwartly tried to avoid looking at the memories hidden here in this dark closet-turned-passageway, which led to an even deeper chamber within his soul where he must have taken refuge. She could hear things, people talking to him, telling him he was a failure, wasn't good enough, would never be as good as his mother or father or brother, the sounds of crowds cheering and then an aching silence that was followed by pain. She didn't know what it all meant, but she could feel agony hidden here, a darkness he had never allowed her to see, and she didn't want to invade his privacy any more than she absolutely had to.

It was with a good deal of relief that she finally found the room and entered into it from that dark hallway.

She caught her breath and her eyes slid around the walls. It was a small room, much smaller than the red one with the piano. The shape was vaguely octagonal, and she quickly noted that it was a dead end. This one also had pictures hanging on the walls, but unlike the other, every wall was covered from ceiling to floor.

Some of the pictures caught her attention, because they were larger than the others.

A picture of him with two adults and a boy not too much older than him…that must be his family. A picture of him sitting on the stage of an immense recital hall, really more like an opera house. There were lots of those actually. A picture of his hands on the keys of a piano, only it looked like his hands were bleeding and the keys had been stained red. Those were all painful, shaded as if by some sort of odd shadow. These were pictures of the memories he had hidden in his innermost heart.

Then there were pictures of the academy, of their friends, pictures of happiness and joy and love and companionship that he cherished. Those were happy, not necessarily here to be hidden so much as committed to memory.

The large majority of the pictures though were definitely meant to be seen by no one else. They told of pain, weaknesses he had worried about, insecurities, anxieties.

And then there was a whole different set, ones which she quickly averted her eyes from.

The first time he had seen Blaire totally naked, which was marked with a big red X for some reason, and a few others of Blaire. Her eyes landed on one of her though, where she had come out of the bathroom in just a towel and looked rather mad. After that, it was impossible to not notice just how many of these pictures seemed to star her, in every possible way. Her asleep looking peaceful and dopey. Her with her nose in a book. A lot that seemed to focus on her legs and upper thighs during high kicks. And one where she had been reading and had pulled her knees up, which accidentally exposed her underwear.

Those last few made her flush hotly with anger, but others shocked her even more.

There were a few that showed her with a pair of glowing wings. They were different scenes of battles she remembered very distinctly, but certainly didn't remember the wings he apparently had seen. Why hadn't he told her?

All of this observation was done within a few seconds as her attention was diverted briefly to note the pedestal and box in the center of the room, and then shifted to the snap of the closing door behind her.

Spinning around, she came face to face with Soul who greeted her with a smirk.

"Soul!" She gasped, so incredibly happy to see him apparently perfectly okay. Running forwards, she threw herself into his arms and hugged him tight, soul to soul. "Oh god I was so worried about you."

"I'm fine Maka, as you can see." He said, his voice coming from next to her ear, a little closer than she had expected. His breath was warm on her neck and sent a shiver through her which caused her to pull back a little.

"I'm so happy to see you!"

He smiled back at her, and there was something odd about the smile but she dismissed it easily.

"So where are we exactly?" She asked, turning to look at the pedestal again.

"My inner-most soul. My heart. It's the place where I hide all my secrets." He responded, and this time she couldn't ignore the skitter of unease that rippled down her spine. Soul wasn't this open with anyone, not even her. If this really was the place he hid all his secrets, she never would have expected him to say it so flippantly.

"Oh. I'm sorry for intruding. I guess we'd better go then right?" She turned back to him and looked at the now closed door.

That grin only seemed to get a little wider before it was wiped away completely. "I'm afraid we can't do that. The only way out is through this door, and it's locked."

"Oh…so that's why you're here. You're trapped?"

He nodded. "Yeah. And now neither of us can get out."

Something didn't add up about this though. If he was trapped in here, then why was the door open when she came in? And if he knew it would trap them, why did he shut it behind her? It was at this point, that Maka knew without a doubt that this wasn't really Soul she was dealing with. It was probably that little red demon… but when did he acquire the ability to take Soul's form?

She'd have to tread carefully. Soul was in this room; she could feel it, but where?

Playing along for the moment, she carefully said, "There has to be some way out. We can't just be trapped here forever."

"Well…there is one way." The fake Soul said, and he stepped past her and grabbed the box that had been sitting on the pedestal. "There's a key in here, but I can't get it. You could probably open it though."

Getting a suspicion, she took the box that he offered and held it gingerly. She lifted it to her eyes and looked through the keyhole, searching. It was there, so carefully hidden and guarded that she almost missed it, but she was so familiar with the feel and look of Soul that she saw it. He was there, locked away, but it was barely a shard of his soul, the very core. Where was the rest of him?

So, obviously this other Soul wanted in here to corrupt the rest of his soul, but did that mean that doppelganger Soul was actually a part of Soul? Or was the rest of him hidden away somewhere else?

Going for a straightforward approach now, she decided to put it to him plainly. "I know you're not really Soul. Who are you?"

The fake Soul raised an eyebrow and a smirk spread his lips. "And when did you figure that out?"

"When you said we were locked in here. Soul never would have closed that door on me and trapped us."

He shrugged. "I should have guessed you'd figure it out with that big brain of yours. You're right. I'm not the Soul you knew."

"The Soul I knew?"

"Yeah." He grinned, taking a step forwards, and she fought the urge to take a step back.

"So are you trying to tell me that you _are_ a part of Soul?"

"You're catching on. Yes, I am a part of Soul. I'm what Soul has become after accepting the bargain with that devil and embracing the black blood." He took several more prowling slow steps until he was right in front of her, the box between them the only space between their bodies.

He leaned down so his face was alongside hers and said right into her ear, "I'm all the dark, secret parts of him that he tried to hide from you, mixed with insanity."

And then he did something she really didn't expect…his sharp teeth bit into her ear. The little sting of pain and shock of just what the hell had happened caused Maka to leap back with a bark of, "What the hell?! Just what do you think you're doing?"

That infuriating smirk was still in place, even broader than before. "Something I've wanted to do for a while now. But of course while I was sane I controlled all those urges."

Maka was shaken, despite herself. There was no way this guy could be telling the truth, even if he was technically part of Soul – which he undoubtedly was. She could feel it, sense his dark, twisted wavelength coming from the form in front of her. But if he really was Soul – perverse and incomplete though he was – could it be possible that he was telling the truth?

Thoroughly discombobulated, she tried to hide it and regain her composure as much as possible. "I don't believe you. You're just a small twisted part of him, you don't know what Soul wants or doesn't."

"I don't know what I want? Of course I do. As you said, I'm a part of him, even if I am insane. I know what ' _your_ ' Soul wants… and now I don't have anything holding me back from taking it."

This was getting out of hand. If things continued in this direction, she had no idea what might happen, so the safest course of action was to distract him. "And what you want is inside this box right? That will open the door and let me out of here?"

It worked. He was successfully diverted. "Yes. The door will open up once you get the key out of that box."

She knew there was no key, and suspected that he knew she knew there was no key, but she played along nonetheless. A plan had hatched in her mind. It was the only way they would be able to get out of this alive and sane with both their souls intact.

"Okay."

Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for what she was about to do. Time seemed to stand still for one long second. Then, in one quick move she gripped the latch, yanked it open, and dived headfirst into it. This was a soul-space, the laws of physics certainly didn't apply here. She willed her soul into the space, and into the space it went.

This was an innermost soul-space, the kind where all protective layers are removed. There were no closets to hide things in. This _was_ the place you hid stuff in. It just so happened that her soul partner had hidden himself in here, so she had to go in pursuit. Previously, her soul had been clothed and appeared normal, as did the fake Soul, but as soon as she crossed this last threshold everything came off. Her soul was utterly naked as she made a beeline strait for Soul, who she could see was just as naked as her. Of course they were just souls - there were no specific genitals or anything to speak of, just two lumps where Maka's breasts were and one lump where Soul's junk normally was. It was just the form of their bodies, though that was embarrassing enough. However, she was a little too focused on saving him to be worried about that.

He glowed a light clear blue, while she was aware she glowed yellow, the same colors of their souls naturally, and that was the only light to be seen in this utterly blank space. She could feel the insanity ooze in after her, quick and even blacker than the surrounding void.

"Soul! I'm coming!" She shouted to him, reaching her arms out for him and hurrying as fast as she possibly could in this form, straining to reach him first.

He likewise reached for her, and shouted back, "Hurry up you crazy meister or you're gonna get us both killed!"

She could feel that slimy blackness gaining on her. The distance inside this tiny box was surprising once inside and the race to get to Soul grew neck and neck. She could feel the black blood itching to get to him, and felt it sliding up alongside her, a hairsbreadth from edging in front. It was on top of her now, surrounding her, curling up around her form first and trying to wrap around her like chains. It latched on and dragged her back, clinging to her soul like so many leaches, trying to haul her into madness first.

A sudden surge of intense emotion shot through her, anger at the black blood, fear for Soul spiced with all her feelings for him, and the absolute certainty that she was _**not**_ going to let that insanity get to him. She would never let him get hurt, not again. She would die before that happened.

The sudden surge of feeling lifted her soul, made her glow brighter, hotter, forcing the blackness back from where it was trying to get a slimy, creepy grip on her too. It was trying to drag her under, trying to drown her before she could get to Soul, but she was having none of that. Fear gained ground, anger exploded, but beyond and above all of that was pure love that shot through her heart. It was her feelings for Soul that acted like a lighthouse, a beacon to guide them to each other and out of the dark quicksand. She was here to bring him back in one piece, and by god that was exactly what she was going to do.

All she needed was something to give her a boost of speed to get to him and knock these things from her. Those pictures suddenly came back to mind, and she knew what she had to do.

This was her soul, and her soul had wings, all she had to do was unfurl them.

Her feelings surged forth, made her glow brighter, and the radiance lifted and broke away in the distinct shape of two angel wings, knocking back all the darkness that had been trying to cling to her. With her new feathers, she flew beyond the reaches of the blackness, straight to Soul. Crossing that last shred of distance seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, and almost before she could take breath she found herself wrapping her arms around him, wings too, and felt him do the same.

If she had been who she was only a few short months ago, she would have simply passed out from the overload of SOUL, pressed right up against her. It was beyond skin to skin; even beyond soul to soul…it was her - the innermost essence of her - embracing the same of him. No resonance could compare to the purity of this particular embrace. It still frightened her, the intensity of the experience – feeling every tiny nuance of Soul in a way he had never let her before.

She could feel every fear, every insecurity, every anger, irritation, passion, interest, curiosity…everything that made him who he was. Everything he had been hiding was laid bare, all the feelings he had been keeping from her. She could plainly feel first-hand his ever growing affections for her that he had been trying to figure out – so achingly similar to her own – along with various embarrassing lusts and passions he had been hiding. His crush was exposed fully, just as she knew hers was as well.

She knew when he came into contact with her emotions, felt how it made him feel: first shock, then disbelief, followed by amazement and him wrapping himself even tighter around her as his own feelings burned brighter. It wouldn't even be fair to call this a crush anymore - this was something else entirely, something much greater, and even though neither of them were ready to admit it, it was there present in both their minds.

It was beautiful and terrifying.

And he could feel the full brunt of her terror for the first time as well. He knew about it of course, she had explained it and even let him feel it back when they were first figuring out how to resonate, but this was the first time she had let him feel every part of it, even the origin. She knew when he grasped the full extent of it, knew that he wholly understood now why she had blocked herself behind a barrier at first, and a deep sadness welled up in him, along with determination.

The darkness didn't have a chance.

It wrapped around them both, tried to snuff out their combined light, but it was an impossible endeavor. They burned too brightly and soon it was blasted off them, driven back into the furthest reaches of his soul, and they were freed.

They returned to consciousness and their bodies, only to freeze and wonder just what the hell had been going on while they were away.

Maka was currently pinned under Soul, on the ground. She had both hands in his hair, apparently trying to rip it out as she yanked hard on him. It made sense, given that his sharp teeth were latched deep into her shoulder. One of her knees was pressed into his gut, where a scythe blade instantly blunted to not cut her leg off. One of his knees was pressed just as hard against her between her legs, and another scythe blade blunted itself where it pressed into her inner thigh, way too close to her panty line to be comfortable. Those were the immediate things that Maka noticed.

They had both frozen completely when they realized their situation, but that quickly was becoming undesirable. He wasn't fibbing with those teeth of his, they were literally embedded in her, and they hurt.

Finally regaining some sense, she eased up on her grip in his hair, reducing the pressure. When he didn't instantly release her in return – apparently more in shock than she was – she gave a little tug and complained.

"Um. Ow."

With a noise that was the equivalent of _, "Oh! Right!"_ he relaxed his jaw, slowly easing his teeth out of her. They were even deeper than she'd thought, judging by the time it took to withdraw them completely. As soon as he was detached, he jerked up and her knee slid down his belly, where a blade protruded all along his chest still. His eyes first latched onto her shoulder and hers landed on his mouth, which was coated in blood – hers presumably.

"Shit…I'm sorry Maka."

"Yeah…" She responded absentmindedly, her focus sliding down his chest to where her knee was now pressing against the blunt blade. "By the way, did you notice the piano blades?"

He glanced down to where she was looking and blinked to see the white and black scythe sticking out of his front. "Huh…that's cool." He mumbled, but then grimaced when he was reminded of the fact that there were several of them pressed against her.

He retracted the one across his chest, which let her knee fall against his stomach instead. The next to go was the one on her inner thigh. "Sorry," he mumbled yet again, looking sincerely apologetic and upset -along with embarrassed.

That embarrassment ramped up for them both - along with an increase in confusion as they more fully took in each other's appearance. They both had a smattering of wounds, Soul had plenty of bruises where she had punched and kicked the dickens out of him, and he even possessed a few of her own bite marks along with scratches. Hers were somewhat worse. Though the black blood had protected her pretty well, she still had plenty of shallow cuts and a surprising number of bite marks like the one on her shoulder. Apparently they were both biters when insane.

That wasn't the end of it though. Thanks to Soul's blades, both their clothes were tattered, full of cuts and holes and gashes, though thankfully somehow Maka's chest was still mostly covered, as was her panty area, and Soul had apparently not popped a weapon in his actual groin area. Usually he could have a blade come out of his body without cutting his clothes somehow, but apparently he hadn't had the same sort of control when insane.

They were abruptly reminded of where they were however when Stein's voice rang through the room, from outside the door. "If you've both returned to yourselves, it would be best for you to make a hasty departure. Unless you want a repeat of what just happened?"

"Uh, right."

They both scrambled to their feet, determinedly avoiding eye contact of any sort.

They staggered outside, only to meet the smirking and awkward faces of their teammates. Thankfully though, all forms of teasing were instantly shut down by Stein, who had mastered the art of 'the evil eye.'

Maka didn't know about Soul, but as for her she was having one hell of a fall out after that crazy soul contact.

After being laid out bare like that, without having planned for it or anything, she felt herself sinking deeper, barricading herself to make everything feel safer and not so utterly vulnerable and exposed. She had nothing more to hide, he had seen everything now, but she hadn't ever felt the compulsion to hide quite so badly before.

It was ironic really how having all shields torn away made her construct the heaviest, thickest shield to date.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Here it is! Woohoo! I hope everyone enjoyed the big reveal! And don't worry, that shield of hers isn't sticking around, it's just a knee-jerk reaction, but it'll go away next chapter. So don't get all upset on me. :D

As always, thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed this chapter so far. You guys are amazing.


	17. Chapter 17

After that mission, Crona was brought back to the DWMA, and was locked up in his previous cell. Despite being shaken after the experience with Soul, Maka had gone with Crona, and spent a full 78 hours working on him with her anti-demon wavelength to try and purify the madness that had been forced upon him once again. It seemed Medusa had been forced to resort to injecting him with extra tainted black blood to try and reactivate his own black blood… and it had worked.

With a great deal of work and soul searching, Maka had finally been able to find Crona huddled up in a ball, waiting for her in the depths of his soul…much like Soul had done. Ragnarok hadn't been affected too badly, and to her shock he had even assisted getting Crona back to normal. That was probably because Crona was harder to bully when he was totally insane.

After three solid days working on him, she finally got him back to where he had been before this whole incident, though he seemed even more skittish and delicate than before. He refused to come out of his cell, and insisted that the window be boarded up, since that was how he had been accessed before by Medusa's henchman.

After that, Maka went to visit often, but went back to her normal every day activities. Of course that meant that she had to face Soul, which was harder than she had imagined. The following week was one of the most awkward she'd ever experienced.

As for Soul…

The aftermath was bad – worse even than Soul could have predicted.

Of course he had known Maka wasn't going to respond well to finding out they had feelings for each other. Frankly he'd been a bit freaked out himself, but in the end he had welcomed the contact and soul to soul sharing. But it was different for Maka. After feeling her utter terror of intimacy first-hand, he had figured she would withdraw back into herself, had expected it, and yet still hated it when it came to pass. She couldn't even look at him and hadn't said more than a handful of words to him since that day over a week ago.

It had already been eight days, and she didn't seem to be recovering any time soon. What had happened shook her to the core, obviously, and he just wished there was something he could do to make her feel better about it all.

The real kicker here was that normally after two people discover they have the same sort of romantic- type feelings for each other, they'd naturally start pursuing the idea of a relationship, if not just jump in headfirst. But this wasn't a Disney movie where the hero and heroine get to the end and make-out. Reality was a bit messier than that, and Soul had to deal with Maka's big jumble of feelings on the matter. He knew good and well she wouldn't be ready to even think about having a relationship with him, other than the friendship and close bond they already shared. She was way too scared of romantic relationships – never mind anything even remotely sexual.

He had her old man to thank for that, and he'd never hated Spirit quite like he did right now.

Soul wasn't entirely right about one thing though. Maka did in fact think about the possibility of a relationship with Soul. In fact, she really wanted one. She wanted to have something more with him, to be able to love and live and touch and talk freely with each other in the way her feelings demanded. But he was right; she was way too spooked right now to pursue it. She wanted it, more than anything, but at the same time she couldn't bring herself to grab it. And it was more frustrating than anything else she had ever come across. To have it, right there, dangling within reach now that she knew he felt the same way about her, but to have her own fears and insecurities keep her from seizing it…the situation drove her insane. She utterly despised the way her fears controlled her, and wished with all her might that she was strong enough to get over them already.

She had thought that those fears had mostly gone away. Boy had she been wrong.

Now, added onto the issues she already possessed, was a whole new mess of problems that she had to consider. She knew he wanted a relationship with her now, but also knew with just as much certainty that she would probably end up hurting him. She honestly didn't know if she was even capable of entering into a romantic relationship with anyone – and everything that entailed. How could she start a relationship with Soul, only to reach some sort of blockade they couldn't overcome? It wasn't fair to him.

Not to mention the fact that now she was actually thinking about it, there was a concern about whether a romantic, never mind sexual, relationship would negatively impact their partnership.

Of course above and beyond all that, was the biggest problem of them all. As a child of divorced parents, she just couldn't bring herself to trust their feelings for each other. Sure, they might like – maybe even love – each other now, but what about the future? Surely they would fall out of love, and then they would just end up hurting each other and it would all come crumbling down in a pile of despair and heartbreak. There would be no working with him after that, no friendship, nothing. She honestly didn't think she could handle not having Soul in her life. Maybe it would be better to just remain friends.

Of course, just because she was moping didn't mean that they were exempt from their duties. They still had a quota of missions to complete, especially since they were members of Spartoi now. So, it wasn't surprising when they were given a mission by Lord Death himself, who tended to give the missions to members of Spartoi directly - as opposed to letting them pick assignments off the mission board.

The mission they were given was simple enough - just reconnaissance of a location thought to be connected to Noah's group. It was still of utmost importance though, because it might help to find Kid, who was still AWOL. The level of the mission entailed that they left right away, and soon found themselves on a train with hastily packed luggage.

The trip to the assigned location was awkward, since they still weren't talking. Maka knew that was her fault, could feel how Soul prodded her wavelength with his own every now and then very gently, but she stayed locked up tight. The only thing that made the trip even remotely bearable was Blaire, who had decided to tag along. She was currently in cat form and had snuck onto the train with them, despite the fact that animals were not allowed. It didn't surprise either of them when she suddenly wasn't present as they boarded, only to reappear in the luggage rack over their benches.

It was an overnight trip, so they had a compartment all to themselves which was nice, but it just made things more awkward since silence made the atmosphere thick and uncomfortable. For once, Blaire was a godsend, as she proceeded to entertain them both, and for a little while they were successfully distracted.

Later that night, Maka and Soul slept fitfully in their fold out bunk beds, which were only slightly more comfortable than the normal side by side beds in a hotel room. For Maka at least, it was a relief to not be able to see him, even though the truth of that fact stabbed her with guilt and sadness. That she had allowed this fear of hers to affect her so deeply and seriously impair her ability to even be in the same room with her best and dearest friend was truly horrifying.

She lay awake for a long time, staring up at the dip in the floppy bunk above hers where Soul's weight lay.

That came to a grinding halt when Blaire jumped up on her stomach and sat down. She looked at Maka, then up at where she was looking, and then a mischievous grin lit up her kitty face. That never boded very well. Before Maka could tell her to stop thinking whatever she was thinking, Blaire's curly hat unfolded and the weird hand at the tip stretched out to summarily grope the dip where presumably Soul's butt was located.

Maka gaped, shocked at what she had just witnessed.

The inappropriate touch obviously woke up Soul, because the dip suddenly bounced, accompanied by a yelp from him.

"Maka! Don't grab Soul's butt while I'm in the room. At least wait for me to leave." Blaire said loudly.

"Blaire!" Maka exclaimed, unable to gather herself together enough to say anything else. Her face flushed bright red and the discomfort level was raised by about ten notches.

There was a tsk and a huff from the bunk above and then some movement before suddenly Soul's head appeared over the edge, upside down and glaring into the bunk where Maka was currently cringing. She squeaked and instantly started spouting protests about how it wasn't her.

Soul cut her off. "Shut up Maka, I know it wasn't you," he grouched before his narrowed red eyes flicked over to land solidly on Blaire, who pasted an innocent expression across her kitty face and mewed. "Don't give me that. And don't grab my ass, you perverted feline. There's only one person who can grab me and it ain't you."

So saying, he flipped back up onto his bunk, quickly disappearing once again and leaving both females gaping at the space he had just been in shock. They looked at each other, and Blaire's face switched to one of pure amusement as she caught sight of Maka's shocked expression.

In a whisper she mewed, "Well, is there something you two aren't telling me? I knew you guys were all funky around each other lately, but did you hook up or something?"

Maka flushed even more deeply, which annoyed her since it had just been going away. Scowling fiercely, she whispered back, "No! Don't be ridiculous!"

A furry eyebrow was cocked in her direction. "Oh really? Then who was he talking about just now? Does he have a girlfriend we don't know about?"

"No."

"Then he was talking about you."

Maka remained silent, because honestly she had no idea. It was the only logical choice, but why he would make such a bold declaration she had no clue. Maybe it was his way of telling her he was open to pursuing a relationship if she so chose? It was subtle enough that it didn't freak her out too much, but it was still pretty clear, given their recent incident. She knew good and well what his feelings for her were, and apparently he had seen fit to remind her of that little fact.

Blaire smiled smugly and laid down, her front paws tucked neatly under her chest as she watched Maka with glowing yellow eyes.

After a while, she apparently got bored, because that hand reached out and gave Soul another squeeze, to which he replied with a few choice curse words.

"Blaire if you don't fucking stop that I'm gonna come down there and eat another of your nine souls." The threatening edge of a scythe curved down over the edge of the above bunk.

"Bring it on Scythe Boy…If you think you can take me." She taunted, only to be cut off by a Maka Chop.

Things calmed down after that, as Blaire nursed her sudden migraine and Soul apparently went to sleep again, complete with snores. The rest of the night was uneventful, and eventually even Maka slid into fitful sleep.

When they finally reached their destination, the mission itself went much the same way as their trip there ironically. It was full of surprises – some of them more pleasant than others.

The reconnaissance went smoothly without a hitch. They found the building, broke in without being detected, and found plenty of papers that were written in code and looked highly suspicious. Since they certainly couldn't make heads or tails of the evidence, they simply packed it all up to take back to the DWMA, and left the joint. No need outstaying their dubious welcome…not that they were welcome at all.

Escaping was easy enough. Everything went just the way they planned; Soul didn't even have to turn into his weapon form. They left the shady building, which stood alone in a cluster of woods, and they made their way towards a small town within walking distance where they had booked a room for the night. It all went perfectly.

But that all changed when they ran into an unexpected powerful kishin egg.

When they reached the town a certain smelly substance hit the proverbial fan. A shockingly potent kishin egg was there, prowling the streets and fresh from a kill, which Maka and Soul just happened to stumble across. The man was mutilated beyond recognition, cut into pieces and left like a pile of garbage.

It wasn't as though the meister and weapon pair hadn't seen dead bodies before, they were seasoned professionals after all… but this was a bit gruesome even for them.

"What the hell did this?" Soul asked, as they stared at the corpse in shock and revulsion.

"A kishin egg." Maka could feel it, and looked up to use her soul perception to locate the bad soul. "There."

They took off at a run, not even questioning the fact that they should take this guy out. Blaire silently scampered along next to them.

As it turned out, that hadn't been the best idea, because they had temporarily forgotten the fact that resonance was currently probably not going to happen between them. When they came into contact with the creature and Soul transformed, everything seemed to go okay for a time, but it quickly became clear that the kishin egg wasn't messing around. She was tough, tougher than they had expected.

The woman, thin and willowy though she looked, was fast as lightning and her body didn't seem to act according to normal physics. She warped and twisted it seemed, to acquire impossible angles. That in and of itself would be a problem, but it was also paired with a scream attack similar to Crona's and nine inch nails that sprouted from her fingertips. To beat her, or even survive, they had to resonate.

It came naturally, almost without thought, but at the first soul to soul contact it all went to hell. Maka instantly freaked out and slammed a barrier down and Soul's wavelength went utterly ape-shit, becoming impossible to match. It was almost intolerable to even hold him. At the sudden lockout and de-synchronization, his weapon's form almost instantly burned her palms, causing her to nearly drop him.

This hadn't happened in months, forever it felt like, and they were both sent even further around the bend simply out of shock that this was even happening. Of course, that didn't help their soul synchronization any, and their wavelengths flew even further out of whack with each other. At that, Soul transformed back into human form before she could get herself burned again.

"Soul! What are you doing?"

"You know exactly what I'm doing. I told you didn't I? I'm never going to burn you again."

Her sputtered protests came to an abrupt halt as the kishin soul attacked again, forcing Soul to pop a scythe from his forearms to ward her off. It wasn't enough though; he wasn't trained to fight like this and she quickly overwhelmed him. They both got knocked back, Soul on top of Maka as he tried to shield her from the blow. Before the next could land though…

"Pum-Pum-Pumpkin Halloween Cannon!"

They both flinched and Soul curled his body over hers to protect her from the blast, which was followed by another, and then another as Blaire bombasted the kishin egg mercilessly. She made embarrassingly short work of the thing.

After that humiliating defeat, they retreated to their hotel for the night. Both teens were sulking, and so it was relatively easy to take them by surprise.

Maka certainly didn't expect for Blaire to turn on them as soon as they walked through the door of the hotel room they were renting for the night. But that was precisely what seemed to happen. As soon as they stepped into the room, Blaire said, "Pum-Pum-Pumpkin Cage!"

At the first, " _Pum,_ " Maka and Soul had already whirled around, but by that point it was way too late. Glowing orange bars had appeared on the walls of the room, and the doorknob had turned into a pumpkin.

"Wh-what the? Blaire?! What are you doing?!" Maka shouted as the cat slammed the door in their faces.

Through the door, Blaire said, "This is for your own good. I'm locking you two in there until you sort yourselves out. As long as it takes. Get over whatever is causing this rift between you, and I'll let you out."

They were given just long enough to gape at the door with horror and shock, and then at each other with the same expression, before the cat laughed and added, "I would recommend make-up sex. It's a great way to forgive and forget."

And then they both heard her walk away.

"BLAIRE!"

After the joint shout, they were left in extremely awkward silence.

The silence lasted for a little while. They both used the facilities, which thankfully were within their pumpkin cage, then they drank some water and ate some snacks they had brought with them. It was only after they had run out of things to do to occupy themselves that they finally faced the problem.

Maka sat on her bed, and Soul sat on his, facing each other across the small space between the mattresses.

Heart thundering in her ears, she cleared her throat, and then did it again when it didn't seem to kick-start speech. "It appears we've been put into a very awkward situation."

In an obvious attempt to provoke her, he got all sorts of snarky. "Just for the record, this is all your fault."

It worked. She could feel a blood vessel starting to pound in her forehead. "I know that Soul! There's no need to be an ass and rub it in!"

His grin broadened a little and he leaned back coolly on his arms. "I'm just pointing out the obvious."

"Soul! You're so…Urgh! Why do you have to be such a…" On an exasperated yell she threw a book in his direction, which he dodged with the ease born of dodging books for the past few years.

"And there's the Maka I know. All fired up and ready to chop me."

She calmed somewhat, recognizing instantly that he had done it intentionally to get a rise out of her…to distract her and pull her out of her discomfort. It was a bit disarming just how well he knew her, and exactly how to pull her out of a funk.

After crossing her arms and giving him a sour expression for a few minutes he started chuckling. "So now that that's over with, are you finally ready to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" She mumbled on a pout, still sulking a little.

"About why you've refused to talk or look at me for the past week and a half."

Well yeah, she knew that was coming, but it still made her flinch. The discomfort came back a little and her eyes darted away from his. "That's…you know why…"

With an exasperated sigh he leaned forwards again. "You're doing it again, avoiding eye contact and talking in mumbles. Stop it or I'll have to get you mad again."

She pursed her lips and couldn't think of anything further to say.

"Hey Maka?

"Yeah…?"

"Remember that book on anti-demon horticulture you were trying to find for last month?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, I may have spilt coke on it and hid it under the couch."

"You did what?!" Maka glared at him and seriously considered throwing another book.

"And we have eye contact." He said with an edge of sardonic humor. "Why is it that you seem to only be able to look or talk to me nowadays when you're mad at me?"

The anger was whisked away, but the awkwardness didn't return right away, and when it did the discomfort was much less than before. Now she just felt tired, and at the same time sort of on edge. With a slight groan she repeated her earlier statement, "You _know_ why Soul."

"Sort of. I mean I know you're freaked out about the thing that happened in Russia. But I'm not totally sure why, aside from the stuff you already explained about your father and the fear I felt that day coming from you."

Taking a deep breath, she released it and pulled her knees up to wrap her arms around them and rested her chin there. "Yeah. That's basically it."

"Really? Because it seems like you've got more on your mind than just that."

"How do you know that?"

He shrugged. "I just know you Maka. And I know you're too freaked out for just that one thing to be causing it."

With another heavy sigh she finally admitted, "Yeah, okay. You're right."

When she didn't volunteer any more information, he let the topic drop for the time being, which was a huge relief. Instead he came up with another idea.

"How about this? Maybe if we can just learn how to resonate with each other again Blair will let us out. Actually, forget Blair, we need to learn how to resonate without freaking out on each other, or else we're gonna get ourselves killed."

It was true, and Maka knew it well enough. They'd gone through this exact problem months ago, and she knew the outcome of that – Soul almost dying. It was not something to be repeated.

Despite her exhaustion, she agreed.

Even synchronizing her soul to his was difficult, but after some hassle they finally managed. Resonance was a whole different ballgame though. They tried, Maka instantly shut down, and they failed almost before they started. Taking a slight breather for a moment, Maka tried her best to talk herself out of instantly putting up a shield, because it was frankly ridiculous and she knew it was.

It was absurd that even maintaining their synchronization was hard. Just that little bit of contact made her want to hide under the covers, but she maintained it through sheer force of will.

The problem with resonating though was that it had only worked because she could hide some of her emotions in an anti-Soul box. But that hiding spot seemed to be refusing to work. Maybe it was because she simply had too many emotions to contain now. Everything inside her was a big jumbled mess, and she simply couldn't organize it well enough to put it away. Without that little bit of privacy, Soul would be able to feel all of her again, and she shied away from the thought hard enough that it made her physically cringe to think about. It had been intense enough the first time, the thought of being totally exposed once again was too much for her to handle.

Still, she didn't really have a choice about this one. So she tried, yet again, even though she knew it wasn't going to work. Sure enough, that shield popped right back into place when she tried to resonate with him and bring their souls into direct contact. They stopped and then tried again, of course with the same results. On the fourth try, Soul finally got impatient enough that he tried simply forcing his way through. It was so similar to the first time they had tried this that it was _almost_ amusing… but not so amusing that it saved him from a Maka Chop. She was willing to do this, but that didn't mean she was willing to put up with being hurried.

After a while Soul let out an exasperated grunt, and said, "You're just gonna have to let me in, Maka. Try to remember that I've already seen and felt it all, so there's nothing to be worried about."

"That's the problem!" She burst out, just as frustrated as him. "It was too much too soon!"

"But it can also be part of the solution!" He barked right back at her. "You don't have to be worried about my reaction to it. You already _know_ how I'm going to react."

That was true, and something inside her eased up just a little.

Seeing this obviously, he sighed and stood. "Here, maybe this'll help." He grumbled, and grabbed hold of her hand, pulling her to her feet as well so they were standing in front of each other holding hands.

"What…Soul what are you-?" She sputtered as she was yanked to her feet, and then when she figured out what he was doing she added, "How is this supposed to help?"

"We usually resonate when holding hands right? Because usually it's right before I transform. So, this should add an element of normalcy."

That was true, but it also made things a little more uncomfortable, given that they were now touching and in closer proximity than before. However, the warm weight and pressure of Soul's hand in and around hers did oddly cause something to click into place within her. It was a sensation she'd felt for years now, and it was strangely soothing.

"Fine. We'll try it this way." She grumbled, not wanting to give away that he was right…again.

After synching up again, she did her very best to relax and just let her soul link to his in the way they had been doing for months now. Their wavelengths matched up easily enough, simply out of habit and practice - what took some time for her was to do it without freaking out. It took no concentration on her part to resonate, they did that as naturally as eating or sleeping now, but she did have to focus on breathing deeply and evenly and tried to quiet her mind enough to relax into the resonance without putting up a shield.

It took some time, but eventually she finally managed to push the fear back enough to let them resonate fully once again.

It was like being blasted with a feelings canon. Suddenly, everything they were both feeling at the moment was transmitted to the other, and then they responded to receiving the emotions of the other, which just kept snowballing back and forth. Through the intimate contact, they both felt how freaked out the other was, how emotionally messed up they both were – how scared, nervous, excited, in love, angry, and needy they were.

Maka instantly received, in bulk, all of Soul's feelings. She had expected the intensity of it, and so she was already nervous and scared and freaked out, which was why she had been resisting so hard. However, it seemed that Soul hadn't been expecting just how intense it would be, and so she felt how the resonance sparked anxiety, shock, nervousness, and overall caused him to freak out a little as well.

She could feel everything, including his understanding and acceptance of not only her fears, but of her as his partner in every sense of the word. Alongside that though, was a contradictory mess of hurt, sadness, depression, and desperation he felt at her shutting him out, along with a deep aching that she couldn't place at first - but quickly realized the source.

He was hurting … because of her.

He ached to be with her, but held himself back because he knew that she wouldn't be able to pursue a relationship due to her fears. Though he accepted those emotions, a part of him still railed against them, urged him to try and push her, to try and convince her somehow, someway to be with him. But he repressed those urges, even though that left him feeling empty and somewhat hopeless.

What hit her hardest though, was a wave of affection and tenderness, showing just how in love he was with her, because there were absolutely no other words she could think of to describe the depth of warmth that washed over her. It was gentle, and soothed her, but at the same time very much not. There was another edge entirely to the feeling, one which was hot and sharp and urgent, and had been plaguing him for probably a long time. That part of it seemed aligned with his irritation and the impatience that he restrained – feelings aimed at her shielding herself from him and cutting herself off, as well as being unable to enter into a relationship, despite the fact that they were both fully aware of the other's feelings now.

In return, she knew that he received all of her mess of emotions, the fears and insecurities, the worries that had been keeping her awake at night and away from him, and the way she had been beating herself up over the pain she knew she had been causing him. He also must have received the deep ache to simply be with him, the longing she could even now feel beating at her much like the way her heart was beating against her ribcage as if trying to break free.

The resonance made for an interesting experience, because not only were the initial emotions felt, but so were the reactions to those emotions, and the subsequent reactions to the reactions. Thus, Maka could feel how Soul reacted to gaining access to her mess - the empathy, the irritation, both the impatience and patience warring against each other, and a matching swell of desire to be with her when he ran into hers to be with him. That only sparked her need and then fanned the flame.

This was quickly growing out of hand and if they didn't get a fire extinguisher in here soon, she wasn't entirely sure what would happen. It seemed they had both been repressing and holding back their emotions and feelings for each other for so long, an imminent implosion or combustion was about to take place, and she didn't know if their partnership would survive it.

If this continued down the out of control train track it had become, they would end up doing something that Maka feared they would both regret.

So, to forestall the inevitable, she tried to withdraw. It happened both consciously as well as instinctively for self-preservation. Due to just how discombobulated she was, it wasn't a smooth attempt by any means - there was an awkward mix of her shield trying to come down between them while she also tried to disengage from the resonance altogether.

Shutting down had been her response to predicting that one of them would lose control over themselves if they continued…. she never could have anticipated that withdrawing would be the catalyst for the very event she had been trying to prevent.

Soul reacted very negatively to her cutting him off, or attempting to cut him off at any rate, since she utterly failed. He prevented it somehow. It almost felt like he forced the resonance - though that shouldn't really be possible - but he did so by flooding her with his emotions, essentially overwhelming her soul with his to keep the contact open.

At the same time, the gentle hand holding changed, as he squeezed her hand in his and used it to drag her closer. Then both hands shifted to her shoulders where he grabbed tightly and basically shook her in admonishment, which – if she weren't so out of it – would have earned him a Maka Chop. As it was, she was already so rattled that all she could do was gape at his rather intense face. His expression was focused and concentrated and angry and hurt all at once. This was one of the very rare times when he had lost all cool, and every trace of that carefully bored expression that was usually stamped all over his face had been washed away.

"Don't you dare lock me out again, Maka!" He spat, right in her face.

The emotions he flooded their connection with emphasized what he was saying perfectly - a wave of hurt, of fear that he would be shut out again, a hint of betrayal, and that deep ache within him turned into pure desperation. It was perhaps a bit of an overreaction under normal circumstances, however it was born from her not only shutting him out this entire past week, but also his memories of all the times in the past when she withdrew from him… not to mention the fact that she had shielded herself from him for the first few years of their partnership. And it simply crushed her, to feel the result of how she had hurt him so deeply. There was no way she could possibly cut off their connection now, not after feeling this.

Which meant she would simply have to control herself.

Her mind wildly scrambled around to try and corral her more intense emotions, the ones that had been urging her to do something she knew she would regret. All the love, passion, and need to be closer to Soul that she had been repressing for what felt like forever… all those emotions had to be controlled with an iron fist so she wouldn't act on them in this moment of weakness and vulnerability. That was what she told herself, but it was one thing to think it and another entirely to do it… especially with Soul's emotions running wild within her.

The thoughts rushed through Maka's mind merely split seconds after Soul's outburst, and she wasn't given much more time to contemplate them, because Soul's highly volatile emotions had come to a rupturing point. He had been holding himself back, just as she had been, though she could clearly feel that he had been holding himself back for her sake…not for his.

She very clearly felt his control snap under the intense pressure. It was ironic that her trying to prevent something ended up being the cause of it.

Once his control snapped, all those feelings he had been holding back came forth, and hers rose to meet them in response, totally out of her control. All those feelings they had both been suppressing reached a boiling point all at once, and suddenly Soul's lips were pressed against hers.

It happened so fast Maka wasn't entirely sure how exactly he came to be kissing her. There had been no warning, aside from the emotions she had felt resonating between them – and then suddenly he was right there in her face.

It wasn't exactly gentle. Soul was expressing all his frustrations and everything he had been suppressing for months. His lips locked to hers almost aggressively, mirroring the way his soul was still overwhelming her own. It was a complete take-over, body and soul, and Maka simply wasn't prepared for it.

She never would have expected this reaction from her weapon partner, but then again anyone pushed hard enough was liable to snap sooner or later. As for her, she was simply shocked at first and all her wild, out of control emotions hushed for a moment as utter surprise took over her emotional palette. There really wasn't any reason for her to be so startled. After all, she herself had predicted this would happen if they didn't stop resonating. But it still seemed so abrupt, so out of character for her loyal companion that it sent her for a loop.

He undoubtedly felt her reaction to the kiss, since they were still resonating, and she felt a slight shift in both his emotions and the pressure on her mouth. Over all he seemed to gentle ever so slightly. His soul stopped being quite so pushy and his mouth stopped attempting to bruise her own. He didn't stop kissing her though. His lips were insistent and warm against hers, and soon the shock was wearing off as her feelings for him reasserted themselves in the dominant position.

She wasn't even aware of her eyes shutting, or how the tension slowly began to ease from her tight muscles. It was impossible not to respond, and soon she found her mouth first twitching and then hesitantly pressing back against his. Her normally analytical mind had shut off completely under duress, and she could simply feel, both physically and emotionally.

The kiss was wild, kind of messy, and she was utterly wrapped up in the experience of it, unable to really comprehend or figure out just what was going on. The kiss itself wasn't exactly pleasurable, so much as it was simply overwhelming and intense, as they both tried to wordlessly say everything they held in their hearts for each other in the space of a few seconds. It wasn't coordinated, certainly wasn't soft, and Soul's lips were chapped and chafed against her own. She could smell the Doritos they had just eaten on his breath and hers probably smelled the same.

But it was still wonderful.

Even as her lips quickly grew tired and a little sore she still wanted to continue kissing him, and her fingers fisted themselves in the front of his shirt around belly height, since his hands still had her shoulders in a vice grip. He was taller than her now, so she found herself tilting her head up a little, and to press closer and kiss more fiercely she went up on her toes a little.

The out of control kiss eventually came to a halt as several things happened in short succession. First, something sharp cut into Maka's lip, which caused her to hiss and jerk back. Second, Soul seemed to realize that he had cut her with one of his shark teeth, and he jerked back as well in both shock and horror. And then they were left panting and staring at each other wide eyed, shocked and a little freaked out by what had just transpired.

Soul's eyes quickly focused on her mouth, and since they were still resonating she felt a shock of anxiety and guilt rush through him. Frowning, she raised a hand and felt of her sore lip, and when she pulled her fingers away they were coated in blood. He'd gotten her pretty good. While the thought almost amused her, it seemed to have a very negative affect on Soul, and he instantly released her to take a few steps back, nearly toppling over backwards onto the bed when the backs of his knees hit the edge of the mattress.

She was a bit surprised by the intense wave of feelings rushing through him now, and then was even more shocked when he abruptly cut off their resonance. For being the person to get so freaked out about her threatening to cut him off, it seemed a little unfair for him to go and do the exact same thing.

His red eyes shifted away from hers and he seemed almost to shrink before her eyes. "Sorry Maka…I don't…I dunno what I was thinking…how I could…" He stuttered, sounding more discombobulated than she'd ever heard him before.

It was certainly odd to so quickly switch positions with him and be the one on the comforting end of things instead of the one scared and anxious for a change. She wasn't even entirely sure what had him so freaked out.

"It's okay Soul. I'm fine, it's just a little cut." She soothed, trying to get him to cheer up a little.

"Yeah…" He muttered, and finally sat on his bed, leaning his elbows on his knees and running his fingers through his hair.

Gingerly, she walked around and sat beside him. It was pretty obvious to her that there was something else going on here, that something entirely new was disturbing him - aside from accidentally hurting her. Although, knowing him, that in and of itself would probably be enough to get him to self-flagellate. He took his job of protecting her very seriously after all.

After everything he had done for her, helping her to get over her fears – which were still present in the back of her mind, but she pushed them down for the moment to care for Soul – she felt almost grateful for the chance to return the favor.

"What's wrong Soul? You seem kind of…freaked out." She asked quietly, deciding to start with gentle methods first. If she had to advance to a Maka Chop she would.

There was a moment of silence and then he blew out a breath, sounding both frustrated and pained. "I…just…sorry for forcing myself on you and all that…" he mumbled.

Okay, so he was feeling guilty about that. She got the sense that there was a lot more to it than that, but tackled this concern first. "Don't worry about that. If I hadn't wanted it I would have Maka Chopped you. You know that."

He glanced up at her and there was a slight smile that skittered across his mouth for a brief moment, before he let out another sigh and groaned, flopping back on the bed and staring morosely up at the ceiling.

"Okay, obviously you're worried about something else. So spit it out Soul." She went with a more direct approach this time, but made sure her voice was still gentle, if firm.

He grumbled and turned his face away from her gaze to stare at the wall instead.

Unknown to her, Soul was dealing with a concern that he'd been struggling with for some time now.

It was shortly after first realizing he had a crush on her and wanted to be with her in a romantic sort of way that he'd had his first fantasy about kissing her. It was perfectly normal of course, to think about the girl he liked in that way, and at first it hadn't bothered him at all. But then, the next time he swallowed a kishin soul, a thought occurred to him, and stuck despite his best attempts to scourge it.

As a weapon, he ate kishin souls, which were pure evil. Eating souls wasn't exactly a normal thing to do, and it had slowly changed his mouth, giving him sharp teeth and a jaw that could open much further than most. He knew she had researched it, because she had informed him of her findings, that eating kishin souls sometimes altered the form of a weapon's mouth. The interaction between him and Maka in that ice cream shop prior to meeting Crona the first time had occurred to him, and the way she had been shocked and weirded out by it all. That had happened before he realized he had feelings for her and sprouted this new annoying worry, so it hadn't really bothered him at the time. But after the fact, he thought back to it with some concern and even shame.

And so, a set of anxieties had been born. The idea of kissing her became one of insecurity and fear and guilt. For one, simply thinking about putting his dirty and tainted mouth anywhere near her sent a shock of guilt and fear through him. He had put unspeakable things in that mouth - things that were pure evil - and they had affected him physically. He truly was tainted, and she was so pure, from her anti-demon soul wavelength to her pretty angel wings, she really was the antithesis of him, who even harbored an actual demon in his soul. Sure, she wasn't an actual angel by any means – as was proved by her penchant for violence and her temper and propensity to jump to conclusions, not to mention being insufferable on many occasions and insisting he do things her way…there were a lot of things that made her not angelic. But still…she was a lot purer than him.

It had gotten to the point where he felt like kissing her was very nearly a crime.

For a month or two now, he had been suppressing it easily enough, since he never thought she would return his feelings. However, as soon as he realized she had the same feelings, the concern had grown exponentially.

Other worries had shown up, one of them being played out in technicolor before his very eyes now. The blood on her lip killed him. It was one of his biggest fears, that he would tear her up with his godawful shark teeth. Fuck, he tore up the inside of his own mouth often enough to know the pain involved.

Of course having bitten her in that fit of insanity back in Russia hadn't made him any fonder of his mouth by any means.

He'd never expected he would blow a gasket like he just did. The kiss had just…happened, and for the life of him, he couldn't quite figure out how. Obviously a few wires had short circuited and temporarily overrode his hang-ups.

After a few moments of self-torture, Maka's soft voice cut through his thoughts. "Hey Soul? Do you…regret kissing me?"

 _Oh shit_. Of course that's what she'd think. Sitting up abruptly, he turned to face her and fixed her with what he knew must be a pretty stern expression. "No Maka, of course I don't regret kissing you. Don't be stupid."

Her expression relaxed and then grew slightly irritated, probably at him calling her stupid.

It was true though, he didn't regret kissing her… at least not in the way _she_ undoubtedly was thinking. He regretted sullying her with his godforsaken mouth, but - all concerns and insecurities aside - he did not regret kissing the girl he liked and possibly loved. In fact he very much wanted to do it again…. if only he didn't feel like he would be tainting her somehow by doing so. And of course only if he figured out how to do it without risking any sort of injury.

Then again, it was possible she hadn't wanted the kiss at all, and in that case he would very much regret it. "I mean, I don't if you don't."

"No! It… was unexpected, and kind of…quicker than I would have liked but…it wasn't unwanted." She mumbled, turning a pretty shade of pink as she grew a little embarrassed. Then she seemed to get serious and a look of concern flashed over her features. "Although, I am worried about what we're gonna do now. How does this affect our partnership?"

Rolling his eyes, he couldn't seem to keep himself from sighing in exasperation at her tendency to over-think everything. "Look, it doesn't affect our partnership at all."

"But Soul-"

"No. Stop it right now. I know you're going to work yourself into a lather over it if you keep thinking like that. Look, you know I'm not good when it comes to talking about stuff like this, but I'll say it anyways. You know how I feel about you and that's not going to change. Being more than friends isn't going to change our partnership. And if you'd rather us just stay friends…well…I'll accept that too."

She bit her lip and then winced, reminded obviously of the cut there. "Soul, I…I don't know if we can _just_ be friends, especially not after that."

Something fluttered deep in his chest, but he tried to repress it, not wanting to get too overexcited just yet and risk scaring her off. "You know I'm open to any kind of relationship you want, Maka. We can take it super slow and if you get freaked out by something we can put it all on pause. Nothing would really change after all. It would be pretty much the same."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we just continue on as we've been doing all these years, just with us both knowing and being okay with how we feel about each other…and maybe going on dates or something…" he tacked on to see how she would respond.

She blinked, looking a little surprised, but not displeased, which was a good sign. "You make it sound so simple."

"Well yeah, cause it is. Or could be, if you'd be willing to give us a chance as…you know, more than friends."

"I think…I'd like that. But…"

"Look I know you're worried because of what happened with your mom and dad, but we aren't them. I certainly ain't Spirit. Do you think he would have resisted Blaire's come-ons for even a second, let alone months?"

Maka guffawed. Then after a moment she cocked her head and looked at him curiously. "Why did you turn her down so often? I mean, weren't you tempted to take her up on her offer?"

He shrugged. "Well, I mean I'm a guy so of course the thought crossed my mind. But it always seemed…kinda gross somehow. Wrong. Of course I was already starting to realize I had feelings for you by then, so that explains it I suppose."

"Is that why you never seemed interested in all those love letter and partnership proposals after becoming a Death Scythe as well?"

"Okay, first of all, you're the only partner I ever want. I don't want anyone else wielding me, except for Lord Death of course whenever he requires it – which probably won't be very often since Spirit is his personal weapon of choice. And second, no I never even once considered any of those ridiculous love letters. The letters were cool to get, but even if I didn't have feelings for you, I wouldn't be interested in some girl who only likes me because I'm a Death Scythe."

She seemed to relax.

"I know you've got issues with cheating and stuff cause of your dumb father, but remember, cool guys never cheat. Especially not on the girl they lo-…er…like." He grimaced at the obvious fuck up.

Her eyes popped wide open. "Were you just going to say-"

He cut her off before she could say it. "Uh, yeah, well, let's just leave it at ' _like_ ' for now. I don't think either of us are ready to say or hear the other just yet."

She took a big gulp of air and then nodded.

* * *

Author's Note:

All righty! So here's the next chapter! Sorry for the delay, with thanksgiving and everything else going on I dropped the ball a little.

Anyways. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Thankfully they have gotten over that first big hurdle and finally came face to face with their feelings and talked them out. As I'm sure you can imagine, Maka still might be having some different issues popping up now and again, but they have definitely taken their first big step. Yay for Blaire!


	18. Chapter 18

Blaire apparently determined that Soul and Maka had sufficiently gotten their shit together, because they were released from the dastardly pumpkin prison the next day and the three of them made their way home with the evidence from the mission. After turning in said evidence, Maka and Soul retuned home and Blaire disappeared… probably to Chupacabra's.

On the trip home, it felt like they had gone back to normal. Maybe it was because she'd finally confronted the issue head on, or maybe it was finally having an opportunity to talk about it plainly with Soul, but somehow Maka wasn't nearly as worried about things as she had been before.

Her mind was consumed by thoughts of that kiss, which made sense considering it was her first. She still wasn't entirely sure what to think about it. On the one hand, it had been very…intense, but in a good way. Every time she thought about it, it gave her pleasant shivers and made her want to try it again and see if it would feel the same, or maybe different. It was impossible to keep herself from wondering what it would be like to kiss him differently, maybe more gently or softer. Since it had been so out of control it had been sort of rough and in the end kind of painful, especially when Soul cut her lip on one of his sharp teeth. It had been exciting, but hadn't exactly felt good.

Then of course, once she got home and had some time to herself to really think, naturally all her normal anxieties reared their ugly heads. Sick and tired of being ruled by these stupid fears, she finally did what she did best in situations such as these…research. She made an important trip to the library and checked out a pile of books on psychology, trauma, and various methods on how to get over fears. Some of the books she found even pertained specifically to divorce and how it affected both the offspring and the parents.

After the kiss she had been on cloud nine for several days, and it had dulled some of her anxieties. However, she could feel them slowly creeping up on her day by day, and thus several days later, she found herself pacing in her room.

Ironically, it was that very same euphoric feeling that was the cause of her worries this time.

Ever since the kiss she had felt like she was floating, which was frankly ridiculous, but she couldn't seem to control the euphoria. It seemed dangerously addictive. Logically, she knew it was the high that a new couple experienced, and that it would wear off in time. But what if she got so addicted to it that she would pursue the feeling after it wore off with her and Soul?

It's what happened to her parents. They had been in euphoric love when they got married, but it soon wore off and apparently her father chased the new sparkly feeling with other women. What if the same sort of thing happened to them? It was all exciting and new and lovely now…but what if in the future it grew boring? Would they follow in her parents footsteps and fall in love with other people?

Then…suddenly, she could hear what sounded suspiciously like Soul's voice in the back of her mind telling her, _"You're overthinking shit again."_

It was true, and in a moment of clarity Maka realized she was getting anxious for no reason. Based on all the books she had been reading, it was perfectly natural to fear new relationships and predict they would fail. It was very common in fact, though usually it was almost subconscious… but now that she was aware of it she could realize just how ridiculous it was.

It was almost like a bucket of cold water suddenly dumped over her head, but as shocking as it was, it was also incredibly refreshing…. as though it washed away some dirt and cobwebs clogging up her brain waves. She found herself standing at her window, looking out at the laughing sun, and smiling in a way she hadn't in a very long time. Undoubtedly she would still encounter remnants of the effects from her childhood and there would be times she would become insecure and anxious, but for this one moment of clarity she could see how none of it really applied to her or Soul.

She certainly wasn't anything like her father…she couldn't ever imagine chasing something stupid and fleeting, when she had her soul-mate right next to her. Doing anything without thinking of the consequences was simply not her style. Also, there was no way she would do anything to hurt Soul, like abandon or cheat on him. She just had to trust in herself on that matter.

As for Soul…he simply wasn't anything like either her father or her mother. He was single minded in his devotion to her, and she had seen herself how he mindlessly spurned the attentions of other women.

Actually, she found herself laughing at the thought that she should actually thank Blaire, because the sexy kitty had proven without a doubt that Soul could not be seduced. If he could resist Blaire, he could resist anyone. It was ironic that the cat woman she had hated so much would now be such a comfort.

He also wasn't like her mother – who just ran out on them without a word and seemed to disappear from their lives altogether. Soul would never abandon her. No matter how badly she had fucked up, or got him hurt, or hurt him herself, he had always stuck around to work it out with her – in his own "cool" way.

Speaking of the white haired devil, she could see him tearing around the corner on his orange bike, heading home. He always drove a little wilder when she wasn't a passenger, and she made a mental note to scold him for driving dangerously, but still couldn't seem to wipe the smile from her face as she watched him nearly do a stoppy in front of their building. Leaning her elbows on the window sill, she observed as he swung a leg over the seat before unstrapping the helmet and plopping it onto the leather padding, only to obviously cuss as it slipped and fell off onto the sidewalk. Snickering to herself, she continued spying on him as he grumpily replaced the helmet back to its appropriate location and then slouched his way over to the door and entered. The helmet itself was something she had made him purchase recently, though she knew he didn't wear it all the time.

He had gone out for groceries, and so she met him at the front door. He blinked when she opened the door for him before he even touched the doorknob, and she couldn't help but grin widely in amusement at his bewildered expression and his outstretched hand wielding a key.

"Hey, thanks for picking up the groceries." She said while grabbing one of the two bags he held and took it with her into the kitchen to start putting away the contents.

He followed at a slower pace, watching her with an expression of suspicion and curiosity. "Uh, yeah…. No problem. What's got you in such a good mood?"

She shrugged and stuffed a cereal box into the cabinet, giving it an extra smack for good measure to make sure it stayed wedged between the boxes of oatmeal and pasta. "Nothing in particular."

"Okay…"

They finished shoving the food wherever it would fit, and all the while Maka began thinking she needed to clean out the cabinets yet again. Soul had a tendency of rearranging the boxes and bags into the least affective space management, and periodically she had to reorganize all the shelves and cabinets back into a semblance of order. This thought was confirmed when she found the empty box for a movie strangely blending in amongst the boxes of macaroni, instant noodles, and pasta.

"Uh, Soul? Why is Jurassic Park hanging out with the spaghetti?"

"Huh?" He asked, his head popping out from under the sink where he had been Tetris-ing the dish soap into place.

She held out the offending invader of noodle space.

He blinked at it and then grinned, showing all his shark teeth. "Dunno. Maybe dinosaurs like ramen and macaroni?"

"Psht." Maka snorted and rolled her eyes at his smart-ass comeback. "Sure Soul. And Batman likes bananas."

He snickered and returned to his task as she tossed the empty box onto the couch in the living room.

After putting away the groceries, they made dinner. While they were tucking into a homemade pizza, Soul cleared his throat and then said, "Uh, Maka? I was wondering…"

When he stalled out, she swallowed her bite and wiped her mouth with a napkin before saying, "Wondering what? Why dinosaurs like spaghetti?"

He scowled. "Hey, it's not my fault that a movie box looks like a box of pasta."

"Maybe we should take you to the eye doctor."

"I have 20/20 thank you very much."

"20/20 hindsight maybe."

He scoffed. Then after a pause he stuck his normal ' _cool_ ' mask back on and said, "Well, whatever. What I was going to say was…how would you like to go out sometime?" Then with a little smirk he added, "We could go see a movie about dinosaurs and go to a restaurant that sells pasta…if you really wanna rub it in that bad."

She didn't take the bait, since she was a little too busy being shocked by what sounded like him asking her out on a date. "Uh, when you say 'go out' do you mean like … a date?"

"Obviously." He said as he bit into his pizza, slurping up a little drool in the process.

"Oh." She blinked at him some more, trying to figure out what to say to that. It was a natural progression of their relationship, whatever that was at the moment…friends with feelings? Pre-relationship? Pre-romance? Romantically inclined friends who were working towards more? Or were they already boyfriend/girlfriend? What did one kiss signify on the scale of things anyways? Did they have to go on a date first before they could be considered an official couple?

"Maka?"

"Um…yeah, I think that would be fun. But no dinosaurs."

He snorted. "Duly noted."

She attempted to get her stomach and insides to settle down. The whole thing had gotten her all fluttery inside and now it felt strange to put food in there with all those little butterflies or whatever. Hopefully she wouldn't get sick to her stomach.

After a while she noted a smear of red on the tip of Soul's nose, and used it to distract herself from the jitters that still made her want to bounce in her seat.

"You've got sauce on your nose."

"Hm? I do?" He questioned, crossing equally red eyes to peer down his nose. "Oh yeah, you're right."

So saying, he stuck his tongue out and easily swiped it over the tip of his nose, in a manner that would be impossible for anyone with a normal mouth. Maka grimaced, still finding it odd to watch even though she'd seen it a million times by now. He tended to like to lick rather than wipe at food on his face. His tongue zipped back in his mouth with a pop and he happily took another large bite.

To her irritation, he also seemed to have no problems biting off pieces of the slightly chewier-than-normal crust, though Maka had to gnaw at her piece a bit for every bite. It was his fault for forgetting to take it out on time, so it seemed a little unfair that it appeared to not affect him. She supposed having sharp teeth came in handy.

After dinner, they did the dishes, and then retired to the living room to simply hang out. Maka read a book and Soul played a video game for a while. That day wound to a close in a very standard manner. In fact, everything proceeded as normal for the next few days, but before Maka and Soul had a chance to go on their date a new development came to light.

Kid had finally been tracked down.

He was locked in the Book of Eibon, a magical encyclopedia it seemed, and someone had just managed to acquire a copy and bring it to the academy.

So, with the help of the resident witches – plus one captive witch, the froggy one – they constructed a magical circle that would allow a certain number of them to enter the book in pursuit. Blaire volunteered to go with them, so she'd be able to hopefully get them back out with her magic. Meanwhile, another group was dispatched to the location of Noah, since they could now track his location with this copy of the book. The dispatch team would be on the other end in case they exited there.

Chances were there'd be a fight either way.

Aside from Blaire, the group assigned to go into the book were all members of Spartoi: Maka and Soul, Black Star and Tsubaki, and Liz and Patty of course. They had to wait a while as the witches set up the circle, but eventually it was done and they took their places standing in a ring around the book … all of them staring down at it somberly. This would be a very dangerous mission, entering a magical book was not something to be undertaken lightly. There was a very good chance they would get stuck in there, just like Kid. But all of them were ready to take that risk.

As one, everyone took a deep breath and jumped into the open book.

It was a dizzying experience, everything went white and black, and to Maka it felt like her body temporarily dissolved and then reformed. It didn't hurt, but it did feel extremely weird. A second later she found herself standing in a white landscape, with black scrawling writing sailing around through the air in long strings, like birds or kites.

"OOOOOooooohh~ Look what we have here. Visitors."

Everyone turned to see a very odd creature. His body looked like one of those typical ghost costumes that were composed of just a sheet, only this thing had a sheet made up of written words. He also had sort of an android-like head, with an upside down question mark symbol across what should be his face.

"Who are you?" Maka asked, taking a step forwards.

"Ah. Milady, I am the index, table of contents, directory, however you would like to call me."

"Does that mean you can guide us?" Liz asked next, sounding eager.

"Yes indeed. Squid-zactly. Exactly."

"Is Kid here?" Black Star injected, loudly as usual and very bossily.

"Kid? A child you mean?"

"No, Death the Kid. Son of Lord Death. He was just recently trapped in here." Maka clarified.

"Oooh~ Him. Yes, he's here."

"Could you guide us to him? Please?!" Liz asked.

"He is in the deepest part of the book, not an easy place to reach I assure you. You cannot reach him by simply skimming through the contents. This book is arranged in seven chapters, each based on a deadly sin. The one you seek is in the very last, the darkest part of the book, and to reach him you would go mad."

Blaire seemed utterly unconcerned by the prognosis, and in fact took the opportunity to leap on top of Maka's head. The rest of them took the information a little more seriously, and solemnly nodded, none of them turning back.

"We all came in here accepting the risks. We are prepared for the worst." Liz stated, and Patty nodded, piping up with, "Yeah. Big Sis and I are here to get our meister. We're mad anyways, so it doesn't really matter."

Liz scowled down at her. "You might be a little crazy, but I am not."

Patty just giggled. "Everyone's a little crazy Liz."

"Yahooo! Let's go save Kid!" That was Black Star of course, and the index seemed a tad taken aback by his enthusiasm.

"Erm. Very well then. Follow me."

An opening within the page suddenly materialized, sort of a round portal type of thing, and everyone stepped through, following the index.

They found themselves in an utterly different sort of place. The floor felt like velvet, soft and supple beneath their shoes, and the same sort of material hung in swaths of draperies all around them. Between the drapes passageways appeared, some of them seeming to exit into an outside world. It appeared they were in a large ballroom sized room, lit with candles that seemed to give off a delicious spicy scent… which - given hers and Soul's history with candles - made Maka uneasy. There were piles of pillows everywhere, and they seemed inviting somehow, as if their plushness was seducing her.

It was luxurious and decidedly sensual.

"Welcome to the chapter of Lust. This space is ruled by Eros." The index introduced them.

It was pretty clear why it was called that, especially as sounds began to filter into the room. There were some decidedly inappropriate noises going on, such as moans and the slapping of skin and slurping and … Maka didn't even want to try to identify the rest.

"What in the- wait a minute…" Everyone turned to look at Tsubaki, and then each other in shock.

Tsubaki's voice was deep, masculine, and that was the first hint that something was off, but as soon as they looked around it became clear that wasn't the only thing that had changed. Everyone had been transformed into the opposite sex.

Tsubaki was undeniably hot as a guy, much as she had been as a girl. Her ponytail had shifted to the nape of her neck, and she was dressed in what looked like ninja garb, with a black sleeveless shirt and black loose pants tied tight around her ankles with bandages. Bandages also wrapped her hands and wrists and black tribal tattoos crawled up her muscular arms. Her body was undeniably male, there were no boobs or hips to be seen.

Black Star then shrieked, loudly as usual but with an even higher pitched voice, and everyone looked at him.

He screamed, "I've got HUGE BOOBS!"

Indeed he did. He hadn't changed all that much, except his muscles had shrunk some and he had popped a huge pair of knockers and some curvy hips. His clothes were pretty much the same, except they were a little plainer. His face was also more feminine.

While he felt up his new chest, Liz growled at her appearance and Patty snickered. "Liz you look so cool!"

She did, with a short buzz cut and piercings, she looked kind of punk or thuggish. She'd grown taller and also more muscular, and wore a plain white button down with jeans. Patty also wore jeans, but with a hoody and a beany, and she had sort of a more gangly looking body with shaggy hair peeking out from under her hat. She also looked a little thuggish.

And then Maka's attention was drawn to Soul. He looked disgusted. "This is so not cool man…"

She snickered. He was so….cute…and sexy, though it was weird to admit. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt, paired with an exceptionally short, pleated, black and pink plaid skirt with black lace poking out from underneath. Actually, the cut of the shirt was quite similar to the dress she had worn to the Annual DWMA party…clingy with a strappy back. His white hair was below his shoulders, and his face was pretty, with big eyes and pink lips, and no sharp teeth. He was slender, with small breasts and long willowy legs ending in kickass boots with heels.

Maka glanced down, to note that she was wearing a nicely tailored suite and also had a boy's body, and when she felt her hair it was short and messy, much like Soul's. She was a little taller than Soul now in fact, and she could feel slender muscles when she poked her torso curiously.

"What is going on here?!"

"Well, this is the chapter of Lust. Therefore, you have each taken on aspects of the opposite sex that you find the most attractive."

"So wait, am I actually a girl?" Black Star yelped and grabbed his crotch, only to blink wide eyed. "Well shit… I guess I am."

"Yes, you have swapped genders. Perhaps I did not make that clear." The index responded.

Maka restrained herself from grabbing her crotch as well to check and see if anything there had changed, despite the fact that several of her companions were doing that very thing.

Then everyone's attention shifted to one of the entrances as the drapes ruffled alarmingly.

"Woah! What was that?!" Liz squeaked in her deep masculine voice and jumped behind Patty.

A long shapely leg poked out teasingly, and then was followed by the most perverted looking character Maka had ever seen. She had on high heels, thigh high stockings, an apron, and nothing else. Her breasts were massive, as was her butt. It looked like she had a little devil's tail sticking out from behind her and there were little horns on her head. Her long black hair swayed as she sashayed out and struck a pose, pouting her lips and sticking her butt and boobs out with a bent-over, arched position.

Everyone's jaw dropped and Liz retreated further behind Patty.

None of the guys - who had turned into girls - seemed affected, but all the girls - who had turned into guys - definitely were. Maka herself felt something stir in her groin area, and jumped in alarm. She was doubly shocked when her nose bled a little and wiped it with something akin to horror.

Soul glanced at her absentmindedly, and then his eyes stuck, widening. A broad grin slowly spread across his pink lips and he started snickering. "Hey Maka, it looks like you're having a little problem."

She grimaced and glared down at her zipper area. There was definitely something there that shouldn't be, poking out in a rather embarrassing manner. Squinting at it angrily didn't seem to make it go away, and Soul just kept laughing at her. Thankfully it didn't seem the others were paying any attention to her, so at least she was spared the humiliation of that. They were probably dealing with a similar problem.

Bewildered and unsure about what to do, she sputtered, "What do I do with it?!"

This was met with raucous laughter on Soul's part and she looked up to give him a fierce glare. "Would you stop laughing you traitor!? It's not my fault we got stuck in pervert land!"

His laughter suddenly snagged in his throat and he choked, his eyes wide. He took a step closer, his eyes now fixed on her mouth intently.

"Uh, Soul? What's…?"

"Smile."

"What?!"

"Just do it."

Glaring at him, she bared her teeth in more of a snarl than a smile, seriously getting pissed.

"You have sharp teeth." He stated after a second, almost mildly but with a hidden edge somewhere.

Now it was her turn to blink, shocked. "Uh…I do?" She asked and then ran her tongue along said teeth, only to find that, yes, she did indeed have sharp teeth. Apparently she found Soul's teeth attractive. How strange. It wasn't something that had ever occurred to her.

Still, this was going to be a bit awkward, especially when the others found out.

He was still staring, which made her feel awkward enough to point out, "Oh yeah? Well you have small boobs. So now I get to call you tiny tits."

He blinked and then glanced down. "Oh yeah, I guess I do."

They met each other's eyes for a moment before small smiles curled their lips and they both started chuckling a little.

The conversation had the added benefit of distracting her enough that her little problem had gone down a bit, at least until she looked over to what the others were doing. When she saw that succubus again she experienced another surge of blood in both places and groaned in exasperation.

"What is that thing anyways?"

"That is a succubus, one of the many demons that Lord Noah has trapped here in the book of Eibon. She's a creature that feeds off the lust of men and then steals their souls."

It seemed the thing had set its sights on Tsubaki and was going after her. Only… Black Star was getting in its way, going boob to boob with the thing and shoving his own ample chest boisterously against her to bounce her back, while cackling. Soul and Maka stared at the odd sight for a moment. It was hysterical, but Maka couldn't really enjoy it since it seemed to just make her pants tighter around the now throbbing and insistent erection that felt so very wrong and strange.

Glaring down at the thing, she gingerly attempted rearranged it, flinching when handling it sent a shard of pleasure through her system. Her hands flew up into the air in a gesture of surrender. Physical pleasure was the last thing she needed at this particular moment. More snickers sounded next to her and she shot Soul an unamused look.

"I don't know how guys deal with this. It's insufferable."

He nearly choked on his amusement, gasping for breath.

"It's really not that funny!"

"Oh but it is…especially after all the times you chewed me out for getting a bloody nose."

She supposed she did deserve his taunts if the male body really was this uncontrollable. It was so different from her own arousal, which took some intentional effort and touching to get to this point.

Everyone was thoroughly distracted, so much so that they had almost forgotten about the index, who was hovering anxiously nearby. Everyone except Blaire, that is. She was utterly unaffected by the succubus.

"You guys know we aren't getting anywhere if we hang around here forever right?" She pointed out to everyone. She was currently in her cat form and sitting on a floating pumpkin.

"Hey Blaire, it doesn't look like you've changed at all." Liz noted.

"Well I am in my cat form. But I'm a tom."

"And you're not affected by _**that**_?" Liz asked, pointing at the menace now coming on to her. She was backing up and looked like she was about to punch the succubus.

"Heh, heh… _**I**_ am the seducer, not the one to be seduced…in fact, I think it's time I lend a helping hand and get us all out of here."

So saying, Blaire transformed into a human. Given how sexy her female form was, it wasn't any surprise that her male form was just as seductive. She was tall, had short purple hair and piercing yellow eyes. Her black jacket was opened to show a shirtless chest that rippled with muscle, and her black pants were tight enough to show her muscular butt and a bulge in the front simply due to her endowments, though she wasn't seduced at all by the succubus.

The succubus, on the other hand, seemed enthralled and instantly cuddled up to Blaire with hearts in her eyes.

The cat grinned and in a deep male voice laced with honey and velvet she said, "Ah yes, you're drawn in." Her hands gripped the devil's arms and tugged her closer, and then softly murmured, "Pum-Pum-Pumpkin…Halloween Canon!"

From point blank range, the succubus was blasted away, tossed by Blaire's outstretched arm as she turned and held her hat in a cool-guy pose.

"Well, that's that then. Let's be off."

"Yes. We should do as Blaire says." Maka seconded, turning to the index.

"Very well then." He/it said amenably.

Suddenly the whole world shifted, and then in a massive wave flipped, as if the turning of a page, sending them all to their knees and then catapulting them into the air as they exclaimed and screamed in various states of fear and alarm. Suddenly a new world popped into being around them, and they tumbled to the ground, head first as they flipped there.

"Guh…"

"Hey…that smell… it smells so good here."

"This is chapter two, Gluttony." The index intoned.

It looked like they were on a market street, lined by free food of every sort. Suddenly everyone's stomachs seemed to growl in unison.

"More importantly, we're still the wrong gender!" Tsubaki pointed out, and they all glanced down, noting that she was right.

"Although, it seems like our voices at least have returned back to normal." Maka pointed out.

"Well yes. Sins don't just disappear because we have passed on to the next chapter. In this case, the more sexual your desire, the longer you will stay your opposite gender."

"What?! But that's going to be super embarrassing for whoever's the last one!"

"Hehe, this is gonna be so funny. We get to see who's the horniest out of us." Black Star chortled, grinning broadly.

"It'll probably be Soul." Maka muttered while rolling her eyes, speaking carefully so the others wouldn't see her sharp teeth. That was an embarrassing quality to find attractive.

"Why me!? You're the one who had such a big problem in the last chapter." He pointed out, red eyes flashing.

She flushed and grimaced.

"Well anyways, let's hurry up and get out of here. The longer we stay, the hungrier I'm getting."

They tromped through the streets, and very shortly Patty, Black Star, and Soul all seemed to lose control of themselves. They started eating everything in sight. It took Maka, Liz, and Tsubaki all combined to pull them back and yelled for the index to flip to the next chapter pronto. Thankfully he obliged, though he needed everyone in accordance for it to work. To get said agreement from the three who had succumbed, Maka Chopped them all into submission.

There was the stomach-turning sensation of everything flipping upside down again and then they were tumbling into the next chapter.

It turned out to be Pride, and so there were all sorts of contests and trophies everywhere.

Patty shifted back to her normal form with a pop, and then laughed and pointed at Liz. "Hey Sis, you're hornier than me!"

"Well I am 2 years older than you!" She yelled back, obviously irritable.

Maka was a bit surprised that she didn't turn back to normal either, but figured it was probably due to being all ramped up lately after just recently getting together with Soul. She didn't really consider herself as a _horny_ person… she didn't even like thinking about sex. Quite honestly, she thought sex in general was gross.

Then again, she'd always equated "horny" with "perverted," but if it was simply a measure of libido…then she could be in trouble. After all, part of her bedtime schedule every night did include masturbating, which she had done since hitting puberty. But she just considered that activity sort of like brushing her teeth. It was just something she did to help get to sleep… or at least that's what she always assumed. But what if it wasn't a normal thing to do? Didn't all girls do that every night?

Tsubaki had shifted some, she'd grown shorter and her muscles had grown more slender. Even Soul's hair had gotten shorter. But she had experienced no change whatsoever. Neither had Black Star or Liz.

The chapter of Pride didn't affect them too much, although Soul became more sullen and Black Star louder than ever, perhaps to compensate or something. Either way, they quickly passed through. Soon enough, the page was turning and everyone landed hard in the next chapter. Only this time, when Maka peeled herself up from the ground, she found herself alone.

"Soul? Tsubaki? Liz? Black Star? Everybody?" She called out, suddenly feeling a wave of fear wash over her.

What had happened? Did they all get separated somehow? And how was she supposed to get to the next chapter without the index?

The fear of being trapped here all alone nearly paralyzed her, but she forced herself to her feet and took a look at her surroundings. It appeared that she was back in the DWMA, but of course she knew it must be an illusion. Why here of all places she wasn't sure, and didn't know what chapter it was supposed to signify. Perhaps she was still stuck in Pride? Or perhaps it was a sub-chapter before the next one somehow?

As she rounded the corner, she suddenly had an idea of which deadly sin was being played out here. She was faced with Soul's fanclub, and instantly knew she had been right when calling this a mirage. Or more likely, this was some sort of challenge specially tailored to her, and wondered if maybe that was why they were separated. Did they each have to go through a personalized challenge?

As for her, she got to watch as the fanclub and an obviously fake Soul canoodled. All the girls took turns wielding him beautifully, in a way she had been aspiring to for years. She had only seen one person wield a scythe like that….her mother. Yet now, here, she got to see his entire fanclub twirl him around… each better than the last.

The envy struck her hard and fast, but she tamped it down, knowing this was a test.

It was harder though, when he transformed out of weapon form and danced with the girls in a much more physical way. It was a shock to see him kiss one of the girls, even though she knew this was all just an illusion. It still hit her like a train. It certainly didn't help when another twined around him to kiss his neck while another played with his hair.

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to turn away, only to run into more fangirls behind her, blocking her way.

"Who are you exactly? To keep Soul all to yourself? He could be so much better, so much more powerful with a better meister. And what about you, huh? Do you even pull any of the weight? Can you even wield something that isn't sentient?"

A mop was thrown at her.

"Try wielding that."

Looking down at the cleaning implement, Maka seriously considered refusing and walking away. But what if she was supposed to prove herself here? In the end, it was a different sin that drove her to pick it up…the chapter she had just presumably left. Pride.

The weight was wrong, but she compensated as best she could, and tried to spin the mop around the way she would with Soul. However, it kept tumbling from her hands to land with a clatter on the floor. Over and over again she bent to pick it up, amidst jeers and taunts, telling her that she couldn't even wield a simple mop. How much of the work was she really doing in her partnership with Soul?

It was made worse, much worse as she overheard the sound of the orgy still going on behind her. Naturally it was incredibly distracting, and every so often she found her gaze straying over there but forced it back just as fast.

"He's just carrying you along. You do nothing but stand in for a coat rack that he twists around and fights from."

She shouldn't let these fake girls get to her - she knew that - and yet their words bit deeply, to a dark place inside of her. It was the same birth place where most of her terrors came from. They ate into her, like acid biting into copper, and the etching it created was one of pain and insecurity.

They cut even deeper, carving into her relationship even. "You don't even understand music – a basic part of Soul's personality, childhood, and being. How could such a tone-deaf girl like you ever satisfy him? He'll want to dance, want to sing, maybe even want to play for his lover. But is any of that possible with you?"

And then another chimed in. "Can you satisfy him in _anything_? An insecure girl like you who can't even think of sex without wanting to cringe?" This comment was nicely punctuated with a groan coming from the fake Soul behind her, and he very much sounded like he was having a good time.

She found herself on the floor, trying to control her tears and gag reflex as she gripped the mop uselessly in her trembling hands. It was weak, ridiculous, pathetic…and yet she simply couldn't find the will power to fight them.

And then suddenly, her tormentors were no longer there, and she could hear a voice calling her name.

As for Soul, he found his challenge easier to deal with. He had been envious of his older brother for most of his childhood, so it wasn't new … though it did bite deeply, as it always had. It was an old wound, and reopened fresh enough to bleed as he listened to his brother's beautiful violin playing and the cheers of the crowd. It put his performance in stark perspective as he watched himself play and receive nothing from the crowd, at least at first. And then one person started booing and others followed, until rotten fruit and vegetables started being tossed at him. That was perhaps a bit over-dramatic in his opinion, but it still worked to create a decent dent in his armor.

The final nail in the coffin was his mother and father - hearing their voices loud and clear backstage where he was actually standing as they said how wonderful Wes was and what a disappointment Soul was. Again, it was nothing new. He had grown up hearing this shit. So, he found it relatively easy to walk away from. They'd been proud of him only when he played the classical pieces, but whenever he played anything he actually wanted to play, he was beat down ruthlessly.

He walked away, bruised and bleeding inside, but mostly able to ignore the familiar ache in his chest.

Coming upon Maka's torment was much worse ironically.

He walked from the recital hall and then into another hall which quickly turned into one from the DWMA. All he had to do was follow the sound of voices before he came upon a scene that literally made him want to vomit. For a long moment all he could do was stand and gape at the duplicate of himself, as he apparently made out with a hundred chicks at once. If this hadn't obviously been devised purely to torture his girlfriend – or he hoped he could call her that – he might have found the endeavor impressive. As it was, watching items of clothing get taken off was nauseating.

It took him a moment to locate her in the mob.

She was being tormented by another set of fangirls - though it was obvious that her attention was split, as apparently she was forced to try to wield a mop of all things. Somehow - over what should have been a cacophony - he could clearly hear the words that the girls used to taunt her with, telling her that she couldn't even wield a mop so why should she get to wield Soul? They said a bunch of other crap, like she was weak and he was the one who did all the work and such, which was so utterly ridiculous that he was tempted to laugh. Only it didn't seem like Maka was taking it so lightly.

Once he got over his shock of course, he instantly started forwards to try and break it up, only it seemed like the hallway leading up to the massacre was full of air that held the consistency of tar. In true nightmare fashion, he found himself straining forwards in slow motion, which pissed him off.

He got more and more pissed as he watched the girls taunt his meister, and strained harder and harder, trying to call out to her. But it seemed she couldn't hear him yet, and he pushed even more to try and gain some speed.

Then it started getting really personal, and he almost wished he didn't happen to overhear the bits addressing her ability to ' _satisfy_ ' him. He couldn't help but wonder if what they said was accurate though… was she really grossed out by the thought of sex? It didn't exactly matter, he wanted to be with her in whatever way she wanted, and if she didn't want sex then he'd make do with his hand. He had been doing it for years, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Finally, shortly after his doppelganger seemed to finally get it on with one of the girls, he managed to get close enough to the group for her to hear him calling to her. Then suddenly all the fakes disappeared, as if hearing his voice was enough to drive them all away. It was a relief; he wasn't sure how much more of that he could take.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Well, here it is! I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did when I wrote it. :D

As always, a huge thanks to all my reviewers, you guys are absolutely amazing.


	19. Chapter 19

"You go on without me Soul."

"Wait…what?!" Said weapon whirled around to see his meister perched on one of the many beds, her head hanging and her shoulders slumped.

"Just leave me behind … I'll just hold you back."

"Maka…" He groaned exasperatedly, "It's just the chapter getting to you."

She didn't need Soul to tell her that. It was blatantly obvious how the chapters had been arranged in such a way as to build and feed off each other. After beating her down in Envy, now she was presented with Sloth, a perfect opportunity to just sit and waste away in her self-condemnation. All those things the girls said … they were still eating at her, despite having told Soul she was okay. It was ridiculous and she knew that very well, but she just couldn't seem to tear her mind from the mousetrap it had stumbled into.

"Hey! This isn't you! It's just the book of Eibon fucking with us! Snap out of it!" Soul barked, grabbing her shoulders tightly. "Oi! Look at me."

Slowly she dragged her head upright and woozily gazed into his red eyes. "I know. It's just the book…but…"

"No buts about it!"

"Soul…I…" She felt drunk, drugged almost, sick on the words from the last chapter and then intoxicated and dragged in by the exhaustion of this one. All she wanted to do was sit here and wallow in her own misery.

"Oh for the love of…! What - do I have - to do - to snap - you out of it?!" He asked in staccato, punctuating each short phrase with a shake of her whole body via his grip on her shoulders.

She flopped around in his hold, her head loose on her neck. A shot of fear went through her but was quickly snuffed out. The fact that - once again - she was the weak one that Soul needed to rescue only made her sink deeper into despair and loathing.

With a growl, he released her and she flopped back – limp, lying flat, and staring up at the canopy of the bed. It was a very pretty bed, sort of Victorian with tall bed posts and a canopy with ruffles on the edges.

"For fuck's sake!" He yelled and grabbed her again, pulling her upright for a moment and shaking her some more. When that still didn't work he seemed to get more and more pissed and exasperated, until he eventually just followed her down on the bed, leaning over her and glaring down into her face with a very ticked-off expression. "You are being a sack of potatoes! Pull yourself together already!"

"I can't…and I _**am**_ just a sack of potatoes. I'm weighing you down. You'd be better off without me." The words came almost as if they had been programmed there by the previous chapter. It was like a haze had settled over her mind.

Bearing his sharp teeth – which made her notice that he had fully changed back into his normal self – he said, "Alright, that's it. Give me your soul."

"Wha-?"

Did he want to eat her soul? That made no sense.

It became clear though what he meant when she felt his soul push against hers, insistently, urging her to resonate with him. So he had meant ' _give me your soul_ ' like ' _give me your hand_ '. What an interesting turn of phrase, she found herself thinking, her mind drifting between random dreamlike thoughts and the tormenting words from before. He reminded her where she was with a rather sharp jab of his soul.

She instinctively let him in and resonated with him in return, almost on autopilot at this stage of the sloth game.

His soul woke her up _real_ quick though as he blasted her with first his frustration and then practically yelled soul-to-soul at her. " _You idiot!_ _ **You**_ _wield_ _ **ME**_ _. Not the other way around. I can't fight without you_."

That was accompanied by a ping of his own guilt and regret, as if he felt like he was weak for being unable to fight without a meister.

" _You're a Death Scythe now Soul. You can sprout weapons from your body wherever you want, without even having to transform a body part into a blade. Of course you can fight by yourself."_ She also spoke soul-to-soul, almost too lazy now to bother herself with physical speech.

" _Sure against weak opponents. But I can't fight to my full potential without you."_

She didn't fully believe him, which of course he felt given their soul to soul connection, and so he proved it to her by playing memories through her head. He showed her their fights, and for the first time, she got to feel what it was like for him when she wielded him, the surge of power he felt, the way his body felt light as a feather, and how he barely had to do anything to whip around her arms, legs, and torso. In her hands, he felt unstoppable, unbeatable. It was a revelation for Maka, and it did manage to wipe all those ridiculous thoughts from the last chapter out of her mind for good.

" _Now do you see?"_

"Yeah…I see." She bit her lip, embarrassed for getting so sucked into it all. Then she winced when her still sharp teeth drew blood. He snorted in amusement.

But there was still a problem. Even though she had escaped from the last chapter finally and the results of the sin of envy, she had sunk too deeply now into sloth, and felt a nearly paralyzing lethargy slowly taking her over.

"Soul…I can't…" She was having trouble keeping her eyes open even, and forming speech was becoming ever more difficult. The shot of panic she felt helped to wake her some, but it still wasn't quite enough. And without the index, they couldn't get out of here unless they were both actively walking into the next chapter.

Of course Soul could feel her fright of the paralysis taking her over, and a spark of his own desperation traveled back to her through their resonance.

"Fuck." Growling, Soul braced his legs against the edge of the bed to prop his weight and his hands once again found their way to her shoulders and gave her a few good shakes, her head plopping back into the bed at the end of every one. It helped, but that haze was still infiltrating her mind.

"Damn it. You're harder to get up than I am in the morning. What do I have to do to wake you up?!"

The first thing to come to mind and pop out of her mouth was, "Pain…maybe?"

He groaned. "Just great. What am I supposed to do … bite you?"

That seemed an odd place to start in Maka's opinion. She probably would have thought of slapping first, and made a mental note to ask Soul about it at a later date. But needs must, and right now she was down for anything he could come up with.

"Sure. I guess. Give it a try." She mumbled, trying to at least not slur her words.

Soul blinked at her wide-eyed for a moment. "Seriously?"

When she seemed to nod off, he snapped out of his surprise. She was going to pull a sleeping beauty act on him if he didn't do something and fast, and he had the bad feeling that if you fell asleep here, you didn't wake back up. So, overcome by panic, he went for it – despite the anxiety that burned his gut hot and sharp at the thought of putting his teeth anywhere near her. This was so much worse than kissing her, but he didn't have time to think about it really, he just had to do something to get her to wake up. NOW.

Leaning in, he slipped his arms under her limp body and lifted her up. He mumbled, "…sorry…" into her shoulder before sinking his teeth into her.

The sharp pain instantly woke her up and dragged her back from the edge of oblivion. They were still resonating, so undoubtedly he could feel the pain go through her, and she felt him flinch against her, but he kept his jaw locked down, just in case it wasn't enough. When he had said 'bite' she hadn't fully thought it through it seemed, but it became perfectly clear that 'bite' meant **CHOMP**. She was sharply reminded of the incident just recently when she found his teeth embedded in her shoulder after the little tête-à-tête in their souls. That had only just healed over a bit, and now it seemed she was going to have another nasty bite mark to contend with.

As her mind came back online, her first word was, "…ow…" and then when all the lights in her brain fully lit, she added, "OW! Okay! I'm awake! Get off! That _hurts_!""

He instantly withdrew, gently removing his teeth and then jerking back with a look of apology. Their resonance fizzled out.

She was pissed now, both at herself and sort of at Soul for thinking of biting her before something a little more logical. Shoving him off, she stood, brushing herself off briskly and straitening her clothes. She had shifted a little at least, and though she still wore dress pants and the penis to go with them, she had on her Spartoi trench coat over it and her boobs. This gender-bender was ever surprising.

Stomping off, she called back to Soul, "Okay Dracula, come on. Let's get out of here before one of us starts drifting off into Lala land again. Oh, and you're paying for the dry cleaning on this coat. They better be able to get the blood stains out."

He hurried to follow.

Getting to the next chapter wasn't too difficult after that, and thankfully they met the others within the chapter of Greed. Of course that proved a little awkward as well, considering that the others had all shifted back pretty much entirely, except for Black Star. He still sported boobs, just like Maka sported a penis, but everything else had been turned back to normal. Everyone else had returned to normal completely, so it was just left to the two of them.

Except that Maka's penis was hidden, so nobody knew that she was still transformed, which meant that everyone assumed it was Black Star who was the horniest of all, and they proceeded to tease him for it. Eventually though, his boobs puffed into nonexistence, but Maka's abnormality persisted for another few moments.

Of course then someone thought to ask Blaire what gender she was, and she replied, "I'm still a tom of course."

So at least Maka wasn't as horny as her. It was a great relief to have the pesky thing disappear from between her thighs.

The teasing that was still ongoing was interrupted by the index, which cleared its throat and said, "You're friend lies just beyond this chapter. But the portal is finicky and won't be open for long. It is the most heavily guarded chapter."

Everyone nodded their assent, and the index summarily opened up the portal. It hadn't been lying, the portal was only open for a split second it seemed, and Black Star just barely managed to shimmy through. The rest of them were left standing around staring at the empty space where it had been in shock and horror.

"Open it again!"

"I cannot. It will take some time before the barrier here will be weak enough to let another portal open."

"Damnit!"

"Don't worry; I'm sure Black Star will bring him back." Tsubaki soothed the others, and slowly they all calmed somewhat. Of them all, he was probably the strongest to be by himself, so perhaps it was lucky he had been the person to get through.

All they could do was wait with bated breath. It took a long time, and they all had to stave off the urges of Greed, especially Liz and Patty, who had to actively try to prevent themselves from being distracted by the floating money that was raining down from the sky. There were also countless treasures and artifacts all over the place, which the index explained had been filed away here for centuries. They were real objects, which would make anyone rich who managed to take them and escape the book, but chances were you'd never be able to escape with one.

They were all too worried about Black Star and Kid anyways to be overly distractible. After what felt like forever, another similar portal opened up, but this one was massive and seemed to have a force behind it. Black Star and Kid emerged from it, but just kept on going. It was apparently a portal all the way out of the book, and all of them got caught up in it.

It was terrifying, like being sucked down a whirlpool or up the tube of a vacuum. Maka reached out to Soul, and somehow managed to snag his hand. They clung together, right up until everyone was spat unceremoniously out of the book to land on the ground in a heap. Black Star landed on top of Liz, who landed tangled up with Patty, who was sitting on Kid. Tsubaki landed on top of Black Star, and instantly got tangled up with Soul and Maka who landed on top of her.

Nobody knew where they were, only that they had landed on earthy soil and grass, which was promptly shoved into several mouths and got up someone's nose. Being near the bottom of the pile, Kid and Patty couldn't really do anything until the rest of them dismounted, but that was made difficult by limbs and hair getting tangled up with each other.

One of Maka's pigtails somehow managed to get tangled around Tsubaki's belt buckle, while her ponytail got stuck temporarily in Black Star's mouth. She tried to sit up before he spat it out and so some of her hair was pulled, resulting in a yelp and Black Star promptly spitting as much of it out as he could. Her arm was stuck under Soul's hip, but when he tried to move to get off it he ended up kicking Liz in the face.

Soul was the first to tumble off the pile of bodies and he scooted away swiftly as Maka followed, once her pigtail was freed. Tsubaki was next, though her skirt got stuck under Liz's shoulder and nearly got pulled off in the process. Black Star bounded off the pile with little concern to everyone else's wellbeing and left behind several bruises, a black eye, and possibly a few broken fingers. Patty, Liz, and Kid disentangled themselves in short order, without any further damage being done thanks to Kid's calm directions.

Finally, they were all standing and patting themselves off…and that was when they suddenly happened to notice where they were. There was an eerie silence as the other group of meisters and weapons from the DWMA stared at them. They were currently fending off a battalion of monsters and a very few powerful people who must be Noah's allies.

Maka, Soul, Patty, Liz, Kid, Tsubaki, Black Star, and Blaire had fallen right into the middle of a battlefield.

Right into Chaos.

They had been spat out of the book of Eibon, which was being wielded by Noah. Out of the book spewed large bubbly black things that looked like caterpillars, with great big round gaping maws that seriously needed some dental attention. They were horrifying, and many of the DWMA that had been sent here were busy fending them off.

Alongside those monstrosities were two other men - the one who Maka and Soul had done aerial battle with not too long ago, and another they recognized…Giriko from the golem village. He must have taken refuge with Noah after Arachne was defeated, or perhaps he defected even before then. He was busy doing battle with Justin Law, who it seemed had tagged along with the other group from the DWMA. Marie and Spirit were also there.

Of course all this information was nearly impossible to absorb, given the hectic nature of the environment they found themselves thrown into. What they did notice, however, was Sid, who was lying on the ground right near where they had all been spat out. He was losing a great deal of blood, and had lost his arm.

Even so, he instantly yelled, "Get out of here! All of you get to safety!"

Despite the fact that he was a zombie, and the loss of a limb could probably be easily rectified, Maka was still horrified by her teacher's dismemberment. That horror quickly turned to rage at the one who had done it, an emotion it seemed that the rest of her team shared.

"Who did this to you?" Kid asked, solemnly but with an edge of utter danger that Maka had never heard before.

Nobody even batted an eye when another monster was summoned from the book of Eibon and sent flying at them, ready to eat their faces off. Kid and Black Star responded viciously, pounding the thing into the ground with a single punch from the assassin and a kick from the young reaper.

Once the monster disappeared with a black puff, all their attention refocused onto to the man who was wielding the book that had caused all this mess.

"You…" Kid intoned ominously, seeming to recognize him.

"And you. How did you escape from my collection?" The guy's eyes ran over the rest of them and obviously came to the correct conclusion. "I take it these pests stole you."

"Noah…I was never _'yours'_ to keep, neither are any of the other creatures you have locked away in there. Your ideas of being a ruler are false!"

"I am everything! Everything is mine! I will unite the world and everything will become one in this book!"

"You're wrong! Balance and harmony is the correct way to rule this world! Not domination and unification! There can be no balance in one! There must be many for there to be the appropriate balance! Many of all kinds, symmetry in chaos, equal harmony between good and evil…You cannot condemn the world to only one kind of light! There must be both light and darkness to make a whole!"

Maka had already figured this guy was Noah, but Kid's response confirmed it. The man standing before them was the enemy of this operation, and needed to be taken down. It seemed that Kid was starting with a philosophical debate, and Maka stood back watching it with some amount of amazement. These two beings of enormous inconceivable power…they were gods in the true sense of the world. They were arguing over which was the right way to rule over everyone.

Obviously this nut-job thought he was a contender against Lord Death and Kid, but she had to agree with her friend… Noah's logic sounded unpleasant. She certainly didn't have any desire to be assimilated like a part a computer. She was no Borg. Still, despite all her smarts, this argument was going way over her head. All she knew was that she trusted the current "god" of this world and didn't want the new guy getting so much as a toe in. They had to stop him here and now before he got any more powerful or cocky.

Quickly the argument seemed to draw to a close, ended by Kid very succinctly. "There can only be one ruler, one way…and trying to usurp the thrown is punishable by death. Prepare yourself Noah!"

Soul was standing a little ways from Maka, but she reached her hand out to him and made eye contact. That was all that was needed for him to get the message and transform, his long metal body flipping through the air and landing neatly in her palm. Her friends likewise geared up for battle.

Kid speared the attack, his single-minded focus on Noah.

Black Star took care of the monsters coming out of the book, which freed up Maka and Soul to detain Noah while Kid geared up for some sort of big attack. He was powering up, beginning to glow, and the stripes on his hair had seemingly sprouted glowing halos that hovered over his head. One was already connected, but he was apparently working to connect the second and it was taking a little time. Noah wasn't waiting though, so it was up to Maka and Soul to try and hinder him.

Going with her gut instinct, she ran at Noah, hoping that she could somehow separate him from the book. However, he just kept spouting out new stuff: a devil, a manticore, and various monster-creatures that she didn't have a name for.

Gripping Soul tight, she automatically initiated resonance with him and felt a boost of power flood her veins. The sound of his fingers running over the keys of his piano began to sing through their connection, and she could feel the black blood beginning to quicken within him. Almost without thinking about it, she responded with a purifying wavelength to cancel out the insanity rising up in his soul.

His piano playing increased her speed and agility, as if while she wielded him, he directed her in return with his playing, like he was her conductor. It helped her to fight the droves of creatures thrown in her face, making her maneuver and dodge around them with speed and ease, and then whip around to slam Soul's blade through them. He played her soul, driving her harder and faster than ever before, and she found it almost laughably effortless to cut through the hordes of demons and gain ground towards Noah.

Then suddenly Soul said, "Maka, can you focus your soul perception on Noah?"

"Sure…" Trusting him, she turned her attention to the main enemy and focused all her soul perception abilities on him.

Thanks to their deep level of resonance, she could feel Soul as he listened close and then as he picked out the sound of Noah's soul. And then she understood his intentions. He planned to use the witch Arachne's power and throw a web at him.

" _Good idea Soul!"_ She thought to him, and could feel his toothy smile of pleasure directly.

As she kept fighting, part of her attention was drawn to what Soul was doing. It seemed that through her soul perception, he had been able to hear the sound of Noah's soul, and that meant that he could play the opposite on his piano and cancel out Noah's wavelength to bring him to a dead comatose stop.

Hopefully it would work.

She could feel his fingers playing the piano, and through him and their connection, she could hear it too. He sent the vibrations of his playing out along threads of carefully spun web that they threw out to ensnare Noah. Quickly, those threads touched upon their opponent when he shifted even the slightest bit to the left, and he was captured like a fly.

A surge of righteous anger and justified pleasure at having caught him coursed through Maka. This man had kidnapped her friend, done who knows what to him, hurt her teacher and comrades from the DWMA, and had thoroughly pissed her off with the things she'd gone through in that book of his. There was no way he was escaping this with his soul intact.

Noah stiffened, and then the reverse phase signaling that came from Soul's piano began to suppress his wavelength. The sound Soul created was the flawless copy of Noah's, but perfectly reversed and sent back like a mirror. It brought everything to a grinding halt for their enemy, and Maka could see his soul flicker under the sonic barrage.

"Wha-What are you…?!" He groaned as his head began to droop forwards and the rest of his body followed suite.

"Immobilization successful." Both Soul and Maka said simultaneously.

And not a moment too soon.

It was time for them to get out of the way because Kid had charged himself up to full capacity and they needed to get out of range. He had activated what looked like little coffin things that floated all around him and they spat out beams of light which shot high into the air over his head. Both pistols-turned-cannons raised and centralized within the funnel of light he was shooting into the sky.

And then he brought everything down… slamming it all on top of Noah's head.

With a scream, the enemy was bombasted by the beams of light, and then Kid locked on target with his guns, and fired. The previous beams wrapped around the blast, making it into a swirling funnel of death, shot as cannon fire right at the enemy. He couldn't dodge, couldn't even hope to move out of the way.

Maka watched as his soul winked out of existence, and blinked, wondering if this cannon had the power to destroy souls as well as the physical form. That should be impossible.

Once the light show was over, all was quiet. The only thing remaining was the book of Eibon, left sitting open on the ground.

"Was he evaporated?"

"No…I don't think so. I think he escaped into the book."

"Maybe the book ate him."

Maka thought about it as they all eased up on the book. "Maybe….or maybe he was a part of the book to begin with. Like a physical manifestation of its will. Or maybe the book possessed him. With the Kishin loose, it would be easy to twist the mind of someone and possess them with madness and the desire to rule."

"That is a very good theory Maka. But if that's the case, it means we haven't seen the last of him."

When nothing else happened, they packed up the book and then helped to get the previous team all together and ready to return. They only found out later that their suspicion had been right, and Noah had emerged from the copy at the DWMA. It just so happened that Lord Death was there at the time, and dealt with the situation accordingly. After that, both copies of the book were locked away in Lord Death's vault.

* * *

Author's Note:

So, we've got a little fluff and fun stuff with Maka and Soul and his teeth, and a nice little battle scene. I hope everyone enjoyed them. :D

No worries, things will pick up between Maka and Soul soon. Never fear. ;)

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys are all awesome.


	20. Chapter 20

In honor of his return, Kid was throwing a party at his house, inviting all their friends.

Everyone was beyond happy that he had returned of course – even Crona when Maka visited him and told him all about it. He still didn't come out though and refused the invitation to Kid's party, opting instead to stay in his cell. At this point he wasn't incarcerated by Lord Death anymore. Rather, he chose of his own free will to stay in his cell most of the time. She got the feeling that it would probably stay that way until Medusa had been tracked down and dealt with.

Aside from Crona, most of their class planned to attend the get-together at Kid's house. Of course after-party had been promised to his closest friends: aka, Maka, Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki.

However, before that, Maka and Soul had some unfinished business to attend to.

Soul intended to collect on a certain promise.

"Hey Maka?"

"Hm…?" She responded, her nose in a book as usual. They had been relaxing at their apartment for the past few days, resting and healing from their wounds.

"Maka…"

"…hm?" She distractedly hummed again, flipping the page.

"…Maka."

She didn't even hum this time, apparently deciding he wasn't worth her attention. So, he walked around and sat next to her, waiting to see if that would get a response. When it didn't, he scooched until he was right next to her and leaned in, amazed she was so focused on that damn book. A grin pulled at his lips and he closed the last few inches and blew in her ear.

That got a reaction.

She squawked and jumped, her book suddenly becoming a deadly weapon as she waved it around wildly. He ducked to preserve his head and too-often abused brains.

"What the hell, Soul?!"

"Well, you weren't answering."

She glared, her green eyes fiery. He snickered. Sometimes he swore that when she got mad enough her pigtails grew staticky with fury and stuck up on her head like the puffed up tail of an angry cat.

"Would you like to go out this evening? Before Kid's party I mean."

Maka certainly hadn't expected that, and her rage melted away in the face of shock. She blinked at Soul's carefully innocent expression. He was trying to look bored, but his glowing eyes sort of gave him away.

"Uh, come again?"

"Would you, Maka Albarn, like to go on a date with me?" He said, cocking an eyebrow and trying to look cool but failing a little when his cheeks tinted pink.

"Before Kid's party?" She asked, checking the time. The party wasn't until seven and it was currently one o-clock, so they would have plenty of time for a date, but it still seemed kind of sudden and unplanned. "Why now?"

"We agreed to go on a date before the whole _'book from hell'_ thing, so I figured that now we were both healed up we could."

He was starting to look a little uncomfortable, so she figured she'd better give him an answer before he lost his nerve and tried to play it cool. That would undoubtedly result in him dismissing the idea, and she certainly didn't want that.

"Sure. What do you wanna do?"

His shoulders relaxed a little. He camouflaged a relieved sigh with a hum of contemplation. "Hm…well we could probably catch a movie and then maybe go eat somewhere. There'll be snacks at the party, but not real food."

"Sounds fun. I'll go get dressed and you look up what movies are playing now."

"Cool."

As she shut herself in her room, she attempted to get her heart and breathing under control. This shouldn't be that big of a deal. They had gone out to eat and see a movie together before, but…this was a _date_. Her first technically.

She carefully picked out an outfit she considered cute. Liz and Patty had recently given her some new clothes, so she decided to try some of them for a spin. The one thing she didn't want to do was look like she was trying too hard, so she picked things that were close to something she would normally wear. Her final outfit ended up consisting of a pretty sky blue, short pleated skirt, a white sleeveless tank top that had some colorful comic-book-esque graphics, and a pair of really cute thigh high socks that were orange with white stars on them, with her normal boots of course. When she glanced at her reflection in the mirror she admired how the whole outfit pulled together and felt rather pleased with herself. Hopefully Soul would approve.

Once finished, she exited her room. It was then that she noticed he had apparently cleaned himself up as well, probably before asking her. She hadn't noticed it earlier, since she was too busy being pissed at first and then shocked. But now she noted that he had on a nice pair of black jeans that she'd seen him wear when he was trying to look nice, his black boots he had taken to wearing instead of the yellow sneakers, a vibrantly colorful graphic t-shirt, and what looked like a new black jacket. He was wearing a thin headband instead of his normal bandanna. Overall, it was a very attractive look - sort of more sophisticated but with the same punkish style typical to him.

Tearing her attention away from his looks, she cleared her throat to announce her presence and asked about his progress on uncovering a date-worthy movie. "Found anything interesting?"

He glanced up and did a double take, his eyes giving her a thorough toe to pigtail sweep. Judging from the slightly glazed look that crossed his expression for a few seconds – complete with the appearance of a small drop of drool – he liked the way she looked. A small stab of pride hit her in the heart and she resisted the urge to fidget in response.

With a nearly unnoticeable shake of his head and a subtle slurp he turned back to the computer and quickly responded to her question. "Yeah, there's a couple of cool ones out now. Come take a look."

She parked herself next to him on the couch and peered at the laptop on his thighs. He pointed out a few options, and they settled on a horror movie that was supposed to be really good. They both enjoyed watching horror, because – compared to their everyday lives – it almost seemed funny. Neither of them liked the psychological thrillers though, so this one was a simple zombie apocalypse type film. But it was supposed to have great reviews.

Thus decided, they headed out and mounted up on Soul's bike. On the way to the theater, Maka indulged in holding Soul a little tighter than she normally would – feeling a little guilty and like she was doing something she wasn't supposed to. But this was allowed right? It should be okay to hold him a little closer than normal on the way to their first date. That thought was quickly followed by another and suddenly she couldn't help but wonder if going on a date finally made them an official couple. It was both an exciting and kind of scary thought.

At the theater, they bought a large bucket of popcorn and a large soda to share. Once in their seats, Soul handed her a straw while he stripped the paper off his and popped it into the soda. Feeling unusually mischievous, she saw a perfect opportunity to get him back for blowing in her ear earlier. Silently and carefully she peeled the end off her straw and then blew the wrapping at him. It beaned him right in the ear since he hadn't expected it.

"Hey!" He barked, slapping a hand to his ear and sending her a mock-offended look. "Do not rape my ear with your straw!"

She sputtered with laughter. "You did it first with your breath!"

It took him a second to connect the dots, but it was obvious when he did. With a shrug, he said, "Yeah. True."

Too soon they had to quiet their silly conversation and jokes because the theater began to grow dark and the previews started rolling.

During the movie, Maka snuck a sip of soda through Soul's straw. When he didn't seem to either notice or mind, she did it again. A bit later she happened to notice that he stuck both straws in his mouth on his next sip. So she did the same. It was strangely thrilling and Maka found herself wondering just who had possessed her emotions to make her so silly.

The movie itself was pretty good actually and managed to get a couple of jump scares on them. It was around that time that they moved the snacks to the holders on the outer arm rests, instead of between them, since Maka nearly tipped the soda into Soul's lap at one point when flinching into him. The middle arm rests disappeared at some point and they ended up smooshed together. Mostly though they laughed their way through the movie, since it was on the slightly corny end of horror, which was what they liked best. They had gotten mid-way through the film before Maka noticed that Soul's arm had sneakily relocated itself around her shoulders, probably from one of the times where she allowed herself to get scared enough to duck into his chest.

The hiding her face part wasn't really necessary, but it did give her a great excuse to snuggle up to him, and apparently he had capitalized as well. Over all, it was a very pleasant movie experience for Maka, and she found herself thinking that – so far at least – this dating thing didn't seem as scary as she'd thought it might be. Soul had been right, it really was very similar to the way they had been before…but just with more touching and cuddling to it.

After the movie finally ended, they made their way to a restaurant they both liked but saved for special occasions since it was a bit pricier than their normal take-out. They picked a booth and then spent some time deciding what to order before dialogue picked up between them again. The conversation trailed over their recent activities, and eventually led to the book of Eibon – which proved to be a perfect opportunity for Maka to ask Soul a question she had been wondering about.

"By the way, why did you think of biting first when you had to wake me up in Sloth? I mean, I would have probably gone with a slap or something."

"No, you would have gone for a Maka Chop." He deadpanned.

"Well yeah, that too." She admitted, grinning. "But seriously…biting?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. It was the first thing that popped into my head. Maybe cause your teeth were still sharp."

She flushed a bit at the reminder. "Right. Or maybe you just have a biting fetish."

He choked on his spaghetti. "What?!"

"You did bite me before; this wasn't the first time."

He sputtered. "B-but that was different! Neither of us knew what we were doing."

"Yeah, but you were controlled by your base desires and insanity as Stein later explained. Plus, when I was in your soul, the insane version of you bit me on the ear and said he'd wanted to do that for a long time."

He sat there blinking at her. "Uh…well, maybe I guess? I've never really thought about it to be honest."

Of course now he was, and struggled to keep a relatively calm expression on his face as she stared at him oh-so-tauntingly. To his shame, he suddenly remembered biting her and was struck with the realization that – aside from the panic of the moment – he might have been…well there might have been something driving him other than just simply wanting to wake her up.

Remembering it now, it was certainly doing something for him, though that just made his discomforts even worse. It had been bad enough when the thought of kissing her made him want to cringe, but now – after acknowledging this rather perverted desire of his – he felt a hundred times more uncomfortable with the idea of his mouth getting anywhere near her skin.

What if he accidentally bit her in the heat of the moment and actually hurt her or something? Not that he would let his mouth get that close to her ever again…but what if – in a hypothetical world where he did kiss her – he lost track of himself and took a chomp? The thought had him cringing and wishing his teeth were not sharp and dangerous.

As for Maka, she watched as he seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then was surprised when his gaze dipped to her throat and shoulders before shooting back up to her face. Then his eyes averted entirely as he licked his lips with an uncomfortable expression. He absentmindedly slurped in a little bit of drool at the corner of his lips, which was probably from the food. She didn't really want to consider what else it could be from.

It seemed she had hit upon something, even though she had just intended to tease him. She'd thought it might make him a little uncomfortable or embarrassed or get a laugh, but hadn't expected to get an actual reaction. The possibility that he might actually have a biting fetish had never really crossed her mind.

Narrowing her eyes, she figured she'd better lay down some ground rules if this really _was_ a thing for him. "Now look, if you really are into biting, you're gonna have to learn how to do it without breaking skin, because I am not going to go around looking like a chew toy."

His red eyes flew back to meet hers and widened as if shocked by the suggestion that she would even entertain the idea. "Maka, I don't…that's not…uh…"

It was pretty rare to see him so 'uncool' and stammering like a blushing schoolgirl, and it caught her a little off guard. Actually, she found it sort of cute.

Interested, she pushed a little bit. "It's okay. Everyone likes different things."

He got even more flustered, and seemed to try and deflect the conversation. "W-well, I'm not the one who had sharp teeth in that dimension. So maybe you're the one with a biting fetish."

Flushing, just a little, she pursed her lips. "Honestly I didn't even know I found your teeth attractive until then. But apparently I do."

That just made him blush and his mouth parted a little as he stared at her, obviously taken aback yet again by her candidness. After blinking a little, all he managed was, "Uh…thanks?"

That caused her to snort, and nearly spew coke out of her nose, which prompted some sputtering and groans of discomfort as they dealt with that situation. After that, the topic wasn't raised again since it was clear that it made Soul highly uncomfortable for some unknown reason. Maka did however tuck away that knowledge for further consideration at a later date.

They finished their dinner relatively quickly and then mounted up on the bike once again to drive to Kid's place. They stopped by an ice cream cart on the way, but just got one cone to share since there would be snacks at the party. Of course that meant that Soul had to reel in his enthusiastic eating habits so that Maka could have a chance at it. To be safe he let her have her crack at it first, and she happily lapped at the cone while they parked themselves on a nearby bench and watched the traffic pass by. It was growing later in the evening, and so the commuters were lessening.

They chatted while eating the ice cream, though Maka was somewhat discomfited by the way Soul's eyes seemed to be more drawn to her mouth. It made her self-conscious as she licked the ice cream, but mostly she tried to ignore it. To be fair, once her half had been consumed, she watched him with just as much interest as he consumed his half. For the first time, she wondered what having such a large mouth and long tongue would mean for like…kissing and stuff. It was kind of disturbing in a way, because with that jaw of his he could easily bite her face off – not that he ever would.

The rest of the trip to Kid's house, Maka's mind was caught up in thoughts such as that - prompted by watching him first scoop out the ice cream with his unnaturally long tongue and then eat the cone whole. It brought up questions she had never considered before, like what would french-kissing be like? He could probably choke her with that tongue of his. It was most definitely long enough to go down her throat. Tonsil hockey might be a very real problem with a boyfriend like Soul.

Those thoughts led to other thoughts, and eventually she found herself having to forcibly stop her mental train before it could go places she wasn't quite ready to go yet. There was no need to make herself all uncomfortable and anxious and icked out.

Soon enough they arrived at Kid's house, and she found herself successfully distracted by the loud music and drinks and snacks and people that were there. The concessions didn't attract their attention to start with, since they'd just eaten, so instead they chatted with their friends. They separated to visit with different people, which was normal… but what _was_ unusual was the way Soul kept touching base with her every so often.

It was a new development in their socializing that she decided she liked. It was sweet…not necessarily the kind of thing she might have pegged Soul for. Then again, he always had been deceptively thoughtful, despite his tough appearance and "cool" attitude.

Eventually, Soul also took over DJ-ing, which was a good thing since whoever was in charge before hadn't done a super job.

When he checked in on her at one point, a song had just come on that she really liked and a question popped out of her mouth before she'd put it through the proper filtration.

"Ooh! I like this song! You wanna dance?" Then of course she remembered the last time she'd asked him to dance and everything that went along with that experience. "Oh wait, never mind. You don't like to dance at parties."

He was obviously remembering the same incident. "The last time you asked it was at a formal function, this is hardly the same thing."

He was right of course. The dance floor at that other party had been a ballroom, and everyone could see everyone dancing. Here, everyone was crowded into Kid's spacious living room, and you couldn't see much beyond a mass of bouncing, gyrating bodies. Nobody would be looking at them or judging them in any way.

"Yeah…so does that mean you do wanna dance?" She clarified, a little bubble of hope and nerves rising up in her chest.

"Sure."

He held out a hand to her with a grin and she took it. His grip led her out onto the impromptu dancefloor, and then once they were in the thick of it he pulled her close. The music was also quite different, heavier rhythms and beats that demanded a different kind of dancing. Maka, being somewhat music deaf, had a little trouble finding the rhythm of it, so at first she just bopped around off-beat.

In direct contrast to her somewhat jerky and chaotic motions, Soul moved fluidly to the music, his body in perfect sync with it. She didn't have names for any of the moves he did, and didn't even know if they were "named" moves, or if he was just dancing. Whatever the case, part of the reason why she was so disjointed was because she was too busy watching him.

Of course her bouncing around made it difficult to really dance with Soul, and after letting her do that for a while – and watching with an amused grin – Soul finally took the lead. She gave him something of an apologetic look, knowing she wasn't any good, and he responded with sort of a soothing expression. He brought her close with the hand still holding hers and then released her hand only to grab her hips instead. She tensed a little, surprised by the contact.

"This okay?" He asked, though she couldn't hear it over the music. She could, however, read his lips.

Tentatively she nodded.

With gentle pressure he urged her to relax, and then match him. She was so used to taking the lead when fighting that it was a bit odd to give all control up to him. In a way though, it was similar to when he guided her with his piano playing, and after realizing that she found it easier to slip into his rhythm. Their constant soul synchronization widened a little and he nudged her both with his soul and with the pressure of his hands to guide her.

Soon she found her hands looped around his neck, and the space between them closed. The feel of his body against hers sent flutters through her insides, but it also made it easier for him to guide her. He led her through various dance steps. Then, when the music started picking up tempo and reached a crescendo, his hand slid down her leg and hitched her thigh up around his hip while his other arm went up alongside her spine, and then he dipped her. She gasped – both at the sudden touches and also at the abrupt, unexpected dip – but once she got over the shock she discovered that it was actually quite fun. A thrill went through her as he dipped her top half down and backwards in a circular motion. Her tummy rolled like on a roller coaster and by the time he had pulled her back up she found herself laughing a little.

He grinned when he noted her happy expression.

"That was fun!" She yelled to be heard over the music.

"Wanna do it again?"

She nodded, and he didn't waste time in dipping her once more. This time she tightened her leg on his hip to help keep herself balanced, and didn't even really think about the significance of it. It was just as fun as the first time, and she came up out of breath and grinning.

For a long moment they panted in each other's faces and smiled at each other, but then the situation caught up with them. Maka's leg was still up and around him, which they both realized about the same time. She pulled it back and he dropped it quickly and they both blushed. It didn't stop them from continuing to dance though, and soon the awkwardness had blown over.

It was so fun in fact, that they both spent the majority of the rest of the night dancing, and it wasn't until much later when they were both out of breath and sweaty that they stopped. By that point many of the other party goers had left, and the rest were just getting ready to do so. Soon it was just the seven of them hanging out and relaxing. Black Star stayed near the food table of course, Kid began straitening the room back to its state of perfect symmetry, and Patty and Liz just kept dancing and singing in the middle of the room. As for Maka and Soul, they relaxed on a couch and worked to catch their breath with cool drinks in their hands.

After a while, Maka noticed the piano in the corner of the room near their seat and she pointed it out to Soul.

"Hey, look. Kid has a piano. Maybe you'd like to play?"

He grimaced as per usual. She knew he didn't like playing in public, although she didn't really know why aside from it having to do with his childhood apparently. She'd gotten a sense of it when they touched soul-to-soul, but deep memories like that weren't accessible even with the closest soul contact unless they were being thought about at the time.

"Maka…" He took a deep breath and seemed to think about it for a moment. "Do you remember that one time we were on a mission and I showed you the piano in my soul space?"

"Yeah. We were fighting that insanity clown thing."

"Uh-huh. The reason the piano inside me contains insanity is because…playing brings back some bad memories."

When he paused, she hurried to say, "Hey, it's cool. You don't have to -"

He interrupted her. "It's about time you knew anyways. Especially if we get involved." He took another deep breath and blew it out through his nose. "I come from a…sort of a famous family. My last name is Evans."

She blinked, her mind racing. In an attempt to understand music and try to grow closer to him she had read a lot about it, including news on recent music events in the community. There was one family whose last name was Evans, and they were all extremely famous classical musicians. Mrs. Evans was an opera singer, Mr. Evans was cellist, and their son Wes Evans was probably the most famous violinist of their time. She had run across mention of another member who was supposed to be a widely acclaimed pianist, though reviews were mixed. His ability was second to none apparently, but from what she had read he had a habit of making his own compositions… which modernist musicians praised for being soulful and new, while those more fond of classical music tended to denounce them.

But he couldn't possible mean _the_ Evans family. Even though he perfectly matched the description of the younger son, there was no way lazy, messy Soul had come from such an aristocratic family. They were loaded, extremely wealthy, and famous.

"Uh, you don't mean…"

He winced, watching her and obviously seeing the cogs and wheels in her head move.

"Yeah, _that_ family. I figured you'd recognize the name since you went through that phase of researching music."

"So, uh…what happened?" Obviously something had, otherwise he would have mentioned them a long time ago.

"It was discovered that I have weapon blood. So I went to the DWMA. I cut all ties with them shortly after. To be honest, I was kind of a disappointment, so I doubt they cared too much. They still had my brilliant older brother."

Well that spoke volumes of years of pain as a child. It was amazing the chapter of Envy hadn't affected him as much as it had her. "So…you didn't like playing the piano, but were forced to anyways?"

He shook his head. "Nah, they let me choose my instrument, and I chose piano because I liked it…loved it actually. I still do, but now…every time I play I can hear them." He tapped his head with a finger. "The lessons were intense, and constant. Very nearly beat the affection for the instrument out of me. But worse, the way I liked to play wasn't exactly a style they approved of."

"So then, every time you play the piano inside you during battle…"

"No. that's different somehow. In here I can play however I want." He tapped his head again. "However, it does come at a price, but you know that well enough. You've felt the black blood and insanity rise with the power of it."

"Oh."

"But outside my own head, with a real piano, it still…" He raised his hands and frowned at his fingers. Maka's eyes followed his and noted with some shock that his fingers were shaking a little, a very fine tremble.

A surge of guilt accosted her for asking him in the first place. "Soul…I'm sorry. I never should have asked you to play. If I'd known, I never would have."

"No problem. Like you said, you didn't know." After a moment he glanced at the instrument in question and then walked over to it.

Maka followed, curious and not understanding why he would go over there if he wasn't planning on playing. Surely just being near the thing must bring up bad memories.

Running his fingers over the shiny black surface, he quietly asked, "Why did you ask me to anyways?"

She shrugged. "I love the sound of your music. Ever since that first time you played for me. Remember? When we first met? You took me to a music shop and played the piano, saying 'this is who I am'. It was a dark piece, kind of scary really, as if you were trying to scare me off. But somehow…I dunno. It just spoke to me I guess. I've never heard you play a real piano since then, but hearing you playing here…" She pressed a hand to her chest behind which her soul fluttered. "When we resonate, it's so beautiful. I guess I just wish I could hear more of it, since my mind is always occupied with fighting and I can't focus on the music as much as I'd like. But I'd never want you to do something so painful."

His red eyes met hers, and stuck. For a long moment he just stared at her. Then, he slowly nodded.

"Okay. I'll play for you."

"You don't have to! I don't want you to do anything that-"

"It's fine. I'd like to." He cut her off and sat, opening up the instrument.

He ignored the others, and they certainly weren't paying attention to them. Kid was still fussing over the symmetry of the room and fixing everything that had been messed up. Liz and Patty were now hovering around him, pestering him to stop and come dance with them. Black Star was still eating, and Tsubaki appeared to be trying to get him to stop. They were all occupied and without Soul to put on a new playlist, the last song was now just winding to a close.

Soul started with the song she remembered, the one he had played for her the very first time. It was just as dark and sinister as before, full of sharp conflicting notes and deep clashing tones. But soon it started changing, becoming higher, sweeter, and more melodious. It turned into the song that Maka remembered him playing in Arachne's castle, the one she had liked so much but that he had blown off as inconsequential.

It spoke to her, and almost without realizing it her soul wavelength began to pulse, before synchronizing to Soul's in resonance. It was a good thing she had, because she could feel how the black blood was beginning to stir, just a little, inside of him. Given that this was a party, and Soul going all mad-scythe-killer would not exactly make for fun times, Maka instantly put a stop to that by filling her own soul with anti-demon wavelength and in turn their resonance purified the small amount of madness trying to sneak up on him.

That was all done nearly instinctually, because most of her attention was captivated by the music.

It was achingly beautiful and once again Maka found herself wondering just where it had come from. The gentle melody and sweet notes were so different from his usual fare – not that she didn't think him capable of producing such a lovely piece, but it did seem out of character.

Her soul ended up asking the question for her.

" _What is that song?"_

" _Would've thought you'd recognize the sound of your own soul."_

That gave her pause. The sound of her soul? Was he saying….?

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering with words, he simply showed her. An image of that time when he first showed her his soul piano, and she played the note that called to her, ran through his mind. For the first time she heard and felt what he did in that moment, and was shocked by the way this song seemed to just pop into being inside of him. But it was more than that, it was a song of his making, but it was based entirely on what he heard in her soul. It was fascinating, the way he heard songs in people's souls.

The song kept changing though, sweetening even further, and she could feel that it was because of his emotions for her, that they influenced the piece now. It was almost enough to bring her to tears.

As for Soul, it was the first time he had played a real piano and didn't feel the normal anxiety. He had at first, but as soon as he started playing Maka's song, it soothed him and his fingers steadied on the keys. That was also probably thanks to Maka as her soul wrapped around his and filled him with warmth and light.

Before, when he'd played this song to cure everyone from insanity, he had blown it off as nothing special. But this time he told her exactly what it was he was playing for her, despite it being uncomfortable to do so.

He barely even noticed the fact that they were resonating, although he acknowledged it by speaking to her directly soul to soul. It felt so natural that he didn't think anything of it. And it allowed him to feel and hear her wavelength as it harmonized with the piece he was playing, as if her soul was drawn to the sound. The sound of her was so beautiful, even more so than usual. It was as if her soul was singing in perfect accompaniment to his playing.

Everyone and everything ceased to exist for him, only the piano and Maka filled his mind and heart. He couldn't help the way his emotions influenced the piece, how it grew sweeter, headier, more complex. It was probably the most beautiful thing his fingers had ever produced on the keys. It was an intense experience and left his soul vibrating against hers, both of them utterly keyed up and in tune with each other, to the point that they couldn't really focus on anything else.

In Maka's opinion, she would have liked the song to go on forever, but as with everything it had to eventually come to a close and finish. The silence that followed was laden with unspoken feelings, and there was a thickness between them, but the thickness was almost magnetic, drawing them together. After that, it was impossible to really pay attention to the party, and so they took their leave shortly thereafter. No-one seemed overly surprised to see them go.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Here it is! The new chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed it. ;D

As I'm sure you can tell, the fluff and hint of citrus is in the air kiddos. Next chapter is gonna be a fun one. It won't be full lemonade yet, but it's definitely the tartest we've gotten so far. I hope you're all ready.

As always, thank you so much to all my reviewers out there. You guys keep me writing. Seriously. If I didn't get reviews, I'd just figure that the story wasn't interesting to anyone and I may stop writing. My purpose here is to spread a little joy.

Speaking of joy, I hope that everyone out there had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, or any other Holiday of your choice.

And since I probably won't post before the new year rolls around...HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

*pops open some fireworks and sparklers*


	21. Chapter 21

During the drive home, they eventually stopped resonating, though their souls still vibrated in sync. Maka wasn't thinking really, she was too wrapped up in the feelings Soul's song had produced in her and she clung to him closely on the back of his bike. Soon, they arrived home and before she knew it they were alone in their apartment. Maka had entered first and walked further into the room to drop her bag on the living room table before turning around to see Soul, standing in the middle of the room and staring at her.

It was at this point that Maka realized perhaps going home wasn't the best idea. Now, they were alone, in an apartment with access to beds, and they were both so keyed up that it was very possible things would spiral out of control. A zip of anxiety snapped across her senses and tightened her chest like a rubber band. At the same time, something else entirely wound tight in her stomach.

Soul must have picked up on her nerves, because his intense stare broke. He rolled his eyes and heaved a sigh before walking across the room to her. She squeaked when he gathered her up into his arms, not expecting the sudden hug.

"Chill out would ya? Just cause we're alone doesn't mean I'm gonna go all, ' _me Tarzan, you Jane_ ,' and drag you off to have my way with you."

She couldn't help but sputter in laughter and buried her head in his chest, still snickering. "Damnit Soul, why do you always know what to say to make things better?"

She could feel his shrug. "It's a gift."

A hum of agreement vibrated her throat and she relaxed some in his embrace, but not entirely. She wasn't really all that worried about Soul going after her; it was _her_ she was more worried about. That, and these sorts of things simply bugged her. The idea of any sort of physical intimacy was still a bit of a sore spot for her, and she wasn't quite sure what to think about it. At the very least, she knew for damn sure that she wasn't ready for anything super sexual….but at the same time she was very much interested in some milder stuff…like kissing.

After a moment he puffed a breath of air onto the top of her head in exasperation. "What's got you so tense? We don't have to do anything at all if you don't want to."

"That's the problem though…I do want to. I think." She grumbled under her breath, but he still apparently heard her because she felt a few of his chest muscles tense and twitch.

"Okay, so…what's the problem again?"

With a sigh and groan, she pressed the top of her head further into his chest, as if to push out the thoughts. "I want to…but what if we end up doing stuff I'm not ready for?"

"Dumb Maka." He grunted, and one of his hands tugged on a pigtail, getting a noise of protest from her. "You're overthinking shit again. You know I'm not gonna force ya into anything you don't wanna do. And I highly doubt _you're_ gonna blow a fuse and rape me."

Once again, she found herself bursting into surprised laughter. That finally got her head up and she looked at him, wiping amused water from her eyes as she chuckled. He grinned back down at her. After a moment he cleared his throat, flushed a little, and then busied his fingers with pulling out the hair ties holding her hair up. She let him, though it was a bit unexpected.

As he messed with her hair – being gentle so as to not pull out any – he spoke. "Like I said. We don't have to do anything."

With a blush of her own, she mumbled, "I'd like to…do some stuff. I just don't wanna go too far."

His eyes flicked down to her face, glanced at her, and then averted back to his hands and her hair as his flush increased a little. "Okay. Then how about we just do what we're doing right now? Hugging and stuff." He paused and then added, "…and maybe…I can touch you a little."

"Um, touch me how?" She asked hesitantly as he finally freed her hair and it flopped into her face. Before she could blow it out of her eyes with a puff of air he was already smoothing it back with gentle fingers.

"Just, you know, like this." He demonstrated by running his palm down her spine and then back up while the fingers of his other hand threaded through her hair. "Simple stuff."

It was as good a place to start as any she supposed, and frankly it felt pretty good. In any other circumstance it would be more soothing than exciting, but given her already hyper state and the current situation, she found it to be both.

Relaxing further into him, she nodded. "Okay. We can do that."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and let herself relax even more. Staring up at him expectantly, she waited to see what he would do. Her stare seemed to fluster him a little, and his eyes averted as that small flush popped up again on his cheeks. It was really cute.

He still wasn't _that_ much taller than her, so she didn't have to crane her neck back to look into his face, which was convenient and meant she could watch him without a neckache.

Eventually, after a little awkward pause, the hand still in her hair began to move and his eyes flicked back to focus on that. His fingers ran through the loose strands, stroking them back and away from her face.

Almost absentmindedly he mumbled, "Your hair's really soft, by the way."

She flushed and smiled, happy at the small compliment.

The arm around her waist eventually relaxed and both hands came up to thread through her hair. To make it easier for him, she moved her own down from his neck and wrapped her arms around his waist instead, admiring the feel of his body as she did. He shivered and his hands stuttered, fumbling a little for a moment. After another short pause, he continued with what he was doing. Eventually those careful fingers tucked her hair behind her ears, taking a moment to gently rub them while he was at it.

It felt a little odd and wasn't exactly something she would have thought of, but it was kind of nice once she got used to it. She could sort of understand now why cats and dogs liked having their ears rubbed.

He didn't stay there for too long; soon he was curiously exploring again and his fingertips moved down to map out her jaw while his thumbs swiped across her cheeks. It was like he was trying to memorize her through touch, and the light caresses sent flutters through her tummy while her heart picked up in pace. It was strangely intense, even though it was so innocent.

One hand stayed cradling the side of her face, his fingers burying into her hair once again, and she leaned into the touch. That opened her up for his other hand as it traveled down and his fingers played across the sensitive skin of her neck. At some point her eyes slid shut and she let herself enjoy the almost ticklish sensation as he explored the muscles in her neck with a light touch. He stalled over her pulse, feeling her heartbeat for a while with his fingertips it seemed, before traveling down and caressing her shoulder and collarbone.

When his whole palm cupped over her shoulder she twitched a little in surprise, having gotten used to the light touches. His warm hand smoothed back up over her shoulder and then up her neck.

At this point, Maka had decided that she wanted to give it a try too. It wasn't fair that Soul got to do all the touching. And so, after getting up enough courage, she moved her hands back up to loop around his neck and opened her eyes. Moving her hands up had dislodged his, and after a moment of hesitation he settled them at her waist as he gave her a questioning look.

"Can I give it a try?" She asked, her fingers giving a little tug on the hair at the nape of his neck to clarify.

He blinked, and then nodded before swallowing thickly and muttering, "Uh…sure."

The first thing she did was remove the headband from his hair, and then indulged in running her fingers through his mop the way he had with hers. She'd wanted to do that for a while to be honest, so it was a very enjoyable experience. His hair was surprisingly silky… she'd almost expected it to be greasy with product.

After a bit, she lightly captured some between her fingers and gave a gentle tug. That got an unexpected response as his eyes slid shut and a tiny pleased hum came from his throat. Apparently he liked having his hair tugged on, a fact she tucked away for use. To verify it, she tried it again, and though he didn't make any sounds he did seem to like it, based on the way his head tilted into her grip. Curious now, she tried tugging on some of the hair at the back of his head, and he tilted his head back, exposing his throat more.

She discovered that he also liked it when she gently scratched at his scalp, and she couldn't help but wonder if she'd look this blissed out when he was touching her.

Probably.

Eventually she moved on from his hair and explored the tendons and muscles in his throat, also pausing over his pulse the way he had done to her. It was strangely fascinating to feel, and weirdly intimate. His heartbeat was going as fast as hers, she discovered, but that wasn't really surprising since they were both breathing relatively quickly.

Her fingers found their way to his shoulders, and she thoroughly enjoyed giving them a little massage and getting a good feel for the tightness in them. He didn't really look it, but he was actually pretty fit and had some muscles for her to grope. Soon enough she moved her hands back up, and buried her fingers in his hair once more. She traced his jaw and then risked a little touch on his lips, which got him twitching back and his eyes popping open in surprise. He almost looked a little disturbed, so she moved back to touching his hair, which quickly relaxed him again into closing his eyes.

By this point, she really wanted to kiss him, especially after that brief touch of her fingers to his mouth. It felt soft, if chapped. The only time they'd kissed it had been kind of rough, so she hadn't been able to really appreciate the softness of his lips, and now she found herself wondering what it would be like. She couldn't stop staring at his mouth and wondered if she was daring enough to go for it.

After some consideration – and a pounding heart nearly strangling her – she finally succumbed to the curiosity and desire.

Tightening her grip in his hair, she pulled him down and leaned up to connect their mouths. She did it quickly, but carefully enough to not to bash their heads together. She did however miss her mark a little and only got half his mouth. He hissed and then yelped, tensing up impossibly. It was obvious she'd caught him by surprise and he'd gone stiff with shock.

She pulled back a second to realign and this time landed the kiss correctly.

For a little while it seemed he got caught up in the moment, and after his initial shock he relaxed some and kissed her back tentatively. This time was much gentler, almost tentative, and she found herself giving him kiss after kiss, unable to really stop. It felt so nice, warm and soft like this, and after a while she stopped pulling back altogether and simply left her mouth on his for a single long kiss.

Then, all of a sudden, he jerked back with a gasp.

He would have disconnected completely and maybe even bolted, given the force he put into pulling back, but she still had a grip on his hair and reined him in to prevent him from running away. Through their soul sync, she'd felt a bolt of anxiety go through him, similar to the one after their first kiss, and this time she was determined to get to the bottom of it. So she held him still while he balked, and then once he had calmed down a second later she loosened her hold and slid her hands to his shoulders – allowing him to put a little bit of space between them.

His eyes were wide and refused to look at her as he licked his lips and then began chewing on them. He was obviously very upset about something, and she suspected it was the same something that had disturbed him the last time.

"What's wrong, Soul?"

"Uh, n-nothing. It's fine…" He mumbled unconvincingly, still refusing to meet her eyes.

"How is it that you're the one who got freaked out? Isn't that supposed to be my job?" She joked, hoping to get some sort of positive response.

It worked, he snorted a little. Then with a heavy sigh he risked a glance at her and held the eye contact for a moment before averting his gaze once again. "Really. It's nothing."

He fidgeted, and seemed like he wanted to put even more distance between them. So, to make them both more comfortable for what was sure to be a long process of tedious extraction, Maka released her grip on him and snagged his hand instead. Using it, she led him to the couch and he hesitantly sat. She released her hold on him entirely and sat next to him.

"Okay. We are going to sit here on this couch until you tell me what's bothering you."

He grumbled something under his breath, and she figured she probably didn't want to hear it.

After a long period of silence, with him stubbornly refusing to look at her, she decided to start the conversation herself. "Alright. I'll talk and then once you get tired of hearing my voice you can tell me what's really going on."

No response.

"I know it has to do with kissing me. You got all freaked out after the first time we kissed as well. Are you scared your teeth will hurt me?"

He grunted.

"If that's the case, you should get over it. We aren't going to learn how to not cut me if we don't practice. As long as we're careful it should be fine. Besides, I'm not scared of a little nick here and there; I'm used to that sort of thing. I'm a meister remember?"

He sent her a sour look.

"Obviously that's not all of it though is it? Alright, then." By this point she figured she'd just come up with really stupid and outlandish reasons for him to not want to kiss her, and eventually he'd have to laugh or get pissed and then he'd tell her what was actually going on. That was the theory anyways.

"Stop me if I'm right. You…you're afraid that I'm a vampire and will bite your face off."

He twitched.

"You're terrified of cooties."

His jaw clenched and an eyebrow spasmed.

"You have oral herpes."

He actually responded to that. "No, I don't."

"Good to know. Then….you must have a rotten tooth and you're afraid kissing will make it fall out."

His lips flinched and she could swear he was trying not to smile.

"Your grandmother forced you to kiss her on the lips when you were a baby and it traumatized you into not wanting to kiss anyone."

He grimaced. "Ew."

"Guess not. That's good; I've heard some grannies actually do that. Anyways…um…oh, how about this? You have a mysterious disease and whenever you kiss someone you suddenly believe you're in a musical and start to sing everything instead of speaking normally?"

That finally got him to snort in amusement. "Where do you come up with this shit, Maka?"

"Dunno. I'm just coming up with anything that might cause you to not want to kiss me. Like I said, stop me when you're ready to talk." She paused, and when he didn't speak up, she started brainstorming again. "Alright then. You're addicted to garlic and it gives you terrible breath."

He sent her a look. "You would have smelt it."

"True. Then…maybe you think that kissing someone can make them pregnant."

He sputtered with laughter. "Do people actually think that?"

"I dunno, young people maybe."

By this point he had turned so he was facing her, and was watching her with amusement, even if there was still some tension in his expression. She was making good progress.

"Are you scared that I'll suck your soul out through your mouth?"

"I'm the one who eats souls, not you." He pointed out, and then winced.

She had a feeling she was getting close and he'd just given something away, but she didn't want to scare him into silence again, so she ignored the slip-up and kept going.

"True. Then maybe you're scared of girls."

He just rolled his eyes.

"You have a colony of tiny fairies living in your mouth and you don't want to share."

For a second he stared at her and then busted out laughing. "Seriously Maka? What the fuck?"

She grinned, and then forced a serious expression on her face to deliver the next one. "No, I've got it now. You're from outer space and are actually an alien. If you kiss me, your babies will be implanted into my mouth to be born through my stomach, which will then kill me."

This only made him laugh harder, and finally he sputtered, "Okay! Okay! Geeze!"

She stopped and waited to see if he was ready to talk about it now that he was all relaxed. After he finished laughing, he finally pulled himself together and heaved a sigh.

"Fine. Look…It's uh, it's got nothing to do with you." Before she could get offended, he hurried to add, "What I mean is - there's nothing about you that makes me not want to kiss you. It's me that I…" He grimaced and stalled out.

"Okay… so you just don't like kissing?"

"No! That's not – no, I very much like kissing you, but…"

When he paused again, she prompted him some more. "You like kissing, but something about it makes you anxious? Or there's something about you that makes kissing…worrisome?" She was trying to understand. He'd said it wasn't her, so there had to be something about himself that he was worried about. "Is it your teeth? Cause we've already talked about that."

"Well…sort of. I mean yeah, I am worried about hurting you, so that's part of it, but…"

"There's more." She seemed to have to finish his sentences when he stalled out to keep him going. So far it was working. But she had to be careful not to do it when he was just pausing, because that might start to irritate him.

"Right." He nodded, looking uncomfortable.

When he didn't say anything again for a long moment, she had an idea. Scooting forwards, she reached out a hand, aiming to put her fingers on his lips. He instantly leaned back and caught her wrist, saying, "Don't!" rather sharply.

"So, it's not just kissing. You don't like the idea of your mouth getting anywhere close to me." She surmised.

He tightly nodded and sat back up straight, giving her a rather put-out expression.

"Why? If it's not just about your pointy teeth then.…wait….is it because everything about your mouth is different? Because that doesn't creep me out or anything – as long as you don't stick your unnaturally long tongue down my throat or something."

He flinched and she knew she was getting warmer.

After another long silence she prompted him again. "So, it's not just your teeth. It's your whole mouth area that bugs you?"

"Why are you so fucking smart?" He grumbled, looking surly.

"I'm right?"

With a puff of exasperated air, he finally started speaking again. "Yeah. Sort of. It's more about _why_ my mouth is so fucked up that bugs me."

"It's not fucked up; it's just been altered from eating…oh." She started getting a good idea of what was probably bothering him.

"What kind of souls do I eat, Maka?" He asked, giving her a tired but somehow still sharp look.

"Kishin eggs." She answered, already seeing where this was going.

"And are kishin eggs nice and happy?"

"No. They're evil."

"Exactly. Not to mention full of insanity. I've eaten more than two hundred of them, even if the first hundred were removed. That shit's been all up in my mouth – teeth, tongue, jaw… it's all been tainted. There's no way I want my nasty mouth near you. You shouldn't either."

No wonder he was so freaked out.

How this particular thought had gotten lodged in his head she wasn't sure, but she could see why it would upset him. It even gave her pause because it had never occurred to her before. In the end though, it simply didn't matter to her where his mouth had been. It wasn't like he'd been kissing a bunch of girls or doing…other things to them with his mouth. That would bother her a million times more than him eating evil souls.

She scooted closer to him again and he leaned back some, averting his eyes once more.

This had to stop now, and she was going to put an end to it, even if she had to do it by force. Once she was close enough, she stopped and asked nicely first.

"Look at me Soul."

When he didn't, she used her meister reflexes to snap her hand forwards and snag his chin before he could jerk away or block her. He flinched hard and tried to pull back, but she just dragged his head around to face her.

His eyes were wide and he stared at her, almost scared.

"Seriously…for the guy who's always telling me to stop overthinking things, this is ridiculous. You need to listen to your own advice." She told him seriously.

"But…"

"I don't care." She said firmly, interrupting him.

His jaw went slack for a moment as he gaped at her and she relaxed her grip on his chin. Then he seemed to gather himself together again and protested. "Well I do."

"I don't care about that either." She countered. "It's stupid, and I'm not going to let you get freaked out about it. You're just going to have to get over it."

She knew she was being a bit harsh, and normally she'd take his worries more seriously. However, in this case, he needed to be snapped out of it – and quickly. This was one worry she was not going to let fester, and if she had to yank the tumor out by the tail she would. She'd take a page from his book when it came to dealing with her stupid worries, and do the same to him.

He was once again taken aback. For a long moment he stared at her, his lips mouthing words that didn't make any sound as he tried to figure out what to say to that. Eventually he just repeated, "Maka…I'm tainted. I can't…"

"First of all, you are not tainted. Sure, it changed you, but that's natural for a weapon. Second, yes you can. You even said you wanted to. And you shouldn't let a stupid worry stop you from doing something you want."

He sputtered some more, like a dying engine, and she hoped this argument would sputter out like one without fuel. Unfortunately, he just kept going.

In fact, he seemed to get mad, and to prove his point he cranked his jaw open all the way to expose all his pointy teeth, like a shark or snake that had dislocated its jaw. It was a sight she'd only seen once before, aside from when he popped a soul in his mouth, but it was certainly disconcerting when it was aimed at her. She almost flinched back when he bent and suddenly snapped those dangerous teeth at her wrist, which was close to him since she was still holding his chin.

However, given the point of this argument, she knew good and well he wasn't going to bite her. In fact, she was surprised he'd bit her in the chapter of Sloth, but suspected he must have been overcome with panic.

"I saw that." He said then, probably meaning either her discomfort when looking into his gaping maw or the way she very nearly flinched as he snapped at her. "You can't tell me you _want_ that near you."

"Yeah, it's a little disconcerting to look down your throat." She admitted. "And the jaw-thing is freaky. But seriously, you're not going to be kissing me with your mouth open like that. And if you tried, I'd Maka Chop you."

"So it does bother you…"

"The idea of you trying to eat my face? Yeah, sure. I doubt you'd like it if I tried to bite your nose off or something. But come on Soul, you wouldn't ever try that. And that's not what we're really talking about here anyways. Like I said, your altered mouth doesn't bug me…as long as you don't do that…how are you doing that anyways?" She asked as he apparently tried to prove her wrong by sticking his tongue out at her. All the way out.

He looked like a lizard or snake with a long tongue. She'd wanted to know how long it was before and now she had a pretty good estimate. It was at least six or seven inches long, maybe even more.

"Is that as far as you can stick it out?" She asked curiously, leaning to the side to try and get a measure. Soul just rolled his eyes, obviously exasperated now.

When she reached out to grab the tip, intending on tugging it out as long as she could, he whipped it back in. "Maka! For fuck's sake! Would you get serious here?!"

"Hey, you're the one who stuck his tongue out at me."

He just snarled and grumbled some more.

"Seriously though. Like I said, that stuff doesn't bother me. It just makes me curious."

"Obviously." He grumbled, looking rather grumpy now. She refused to let him turn his head away though since she still had a good grip on his chin.

"And the other thing doesn't bother me either. I don't care what you put in your mouth. You could eat garbage if you wanted…though you would have to use mouth wash and brush your teeth thoroughly before I'd kiss you."

That got a little snort. "Maka…" He sighed, "I just don't…"

"Okay. I see we're gonna have to do this the hard way."

He tried to jerk back, but it didn't work.

What she was planning probably wasn't advisable, and frankly she wondered if maybe she should just let what they'd talked about sit. Maybe he would change his mind after some contemplation over their conversation. Then again… Soul was pretty damn stubborn when he wanted to be, and she somehow doubted he would get over this without a little shove in the right direction. So, she mentally apologized and put her plan into action.

She waited, and when his lips parted for another protest, she jammed two fingers from her other hand in his mouth. As expected, he didn't react well and tried to pull back, but she held him in place. There was no way for him to close his mouth without biting her. He balked and bucked in her grip and did his very best to get her fingers out of his mouth. In the end she had to essentially tackle him against the arm of the couch and then sit on him to hold him still.

Once he was immobilized and her fingers were still lodged in his mouth, she stared down at his slightly panicky expression. Her other hand was securely on his jaw, and his head was pressed back against the arm of the couch now since she'd toppled him over.

"You've gotta breathe, Soul."

He did so, albeit very quickly, and did his best to voice a protest around her fingers.

"Look, my fingers are in your mouth, and nothing bad is happening, aside from you having a panic attack. So just calm down already." And then, having a thought, she said, "You know, if you really wanna speak about evil, these fingers-" she wiggled the fingers in his mouth and he squirmed, "- have been in as much contact with it as your mouth. You may be the blade that cuts and eats them, but I'm the one who wields you. I'm the one who kills them. These hands have killed many, many times. They've been covered in blood. So don't talk to me about tainted…because I'm just as tainted as you."

By the end of her little speech, he was staring up at her helplessly and had stopped trying to fight her off. Ever so slowly his tongue stopped curling back and away from the invading appendages and relaxed back into its normal position, which put it lying underneath her fingers. Just as gradually, his mouth closed, teeth gently resting against her skin and followed by his lips as he totally relaxed his mouth. Since it seemed he had accepted her fingers she pulled them back and wiped his slobber off on her skirt.

"Better?"

He took a deep breath. "Yeah…but that was kinda overkill don't you think? I nearly had a heart attack."

"Sorry."

She gave him a moment to relax and moved off him so he could sit up again. After a bit, she reached up again and gently put her hand on his jaw.

He tensed, and asked, "Uh, what're you doing?"

"I'm going to kiss you now, if that's alright." It was sort of shocking that those words had come from her mouth, but under the circumstances she had no problems with it.

"Um…I don't know about that…" He sputtered as she went up on her knees and leaned in. At least he didn't pull back, but she could see how he tensed up, nearly quivering with it.

"It still bothers you?" She asked, practically nose to nose with him. This close she could see how his pupils spastically widened and narrowed.

"It's…your mouth, so yeah…it's a bit different."

"Okay. I'll stay right here and when you're ready then you can close the last inch." She mumbled.

Soul wasn't the only one who was nervous about this particular thing. Kissing was still a bit intimidating for Maka too, especially in such an awkward setting. She found herself quivering a little as she stayed put…. but it was important for her to be the strong one here, so she locked her muscles in place and stayed.

It took a while, but eventually he tentatively leaned forwards and brushed his lips against hers. Once he connected she dropped her hand and let him take over. It was very hesitant, barely there, but it was definitely a kiss. It didn't take long for her to get lost in it, and he followed suite, both of them relaxing somewhat as they pressed closer. That continued for a while, until Maka deemed it time to go to the last stage of her " _cure Soul from his fear_ " plan.

This was the part she wasn't exactly looking forward to. In fact, she found herself reconsidering momentarily. But Maka was nothing if not courageous. Usually that courage was absolutely lacking when it came to these sorts of things…but apparently the exception was when she needed to help Soul.

Her need to help Soul motivated her to go for something that she personally thought was probably going to be absolutely disgusting … at least for her. Hopefully though, he wouldn't be grossed out by it.

Carefully – and somewhat hesitantly – she placed her hand at the back of his head, where she could grab some hair if she had to. Hopefully he'd go along with it though. Pressing closer, she parted her lips more, not entirely sure how to go about this, but just going for it. He responded, and though it was a bit sloppy and uncoordinated, open mouth kissing was slowly initiated. It was wet, and probably Soul was drooling a little, and at first Maka internally cringed. After a moment though, she realized it was exactly as bad as she had expected.

It was certainly strange, but in some ways it was kind of…nice. It was warm and allowed for greater mobility, which gave her an even better feel for Soul's lips and how they could move against and with her own.

Even so, she wasn't looking forwards to the next bit.

Before she could chicken out, she went for it. There was no doubt in her mind that this was going to be awkward as hell and uncomfortable for her, but hopefully it would cement the idea in his head that she didn't mind his mouth at all. Trying to be subtle about it, she slipped her tongue forwards and managed to get it in his mouth before he knew what was going on. As soon as he did realize, he balked again, which she'd expected. That was why her hand was in his hair.

Something that sounded shockingly close to a whimper escaped him, but she held him as he attempted a few protests. His tongue did all sorts of interesting things to avoid hers, and so she busied herself with exploring, very slowly to try and get him used to it – and herself too. Eventually he calmed down a little, and very tentatively began kissing her back again, though it was obvious that he was reluctant. It took a while before he used his tongue though, but eventually he did make contact.

She hesitantly stroked his tongue with her own, and he responded – with about the same level of tentativeness. At this stage, the playing field seemed to be level for both of them – since they were both a little unsure about this. But Maka was willing to continue trying it, if – for no other reason – than to prove once and for all that she meant what she had said. His mouth did not bother her. If she could tolerate his tongue and hers touching…well, it said volumes.

As for the sensation itself…it was certainly odd, and not exactly what Maka had expected. It felt kind of slippery and slimy, but it was also warm and soft. There was definitely a gross factor at first for her, but very slowly that eased up just a bit as she got used to it. As she focused more of her attention on her lips and kissing him, it became a little nicer, and she decided that this type of kissing felt … kind of good in a weird way.

Once you got over the initial shock of it all, it wasn't half bad. It was almost like a dance – a very uncoordinated sloppy wet dance…or perhaps a wrestling match, although it wasn't nearly aggressive enough for that. Perhaps the best comparison for it would be two clumsy baby something-or-others bumping into each other and discovering each other for the first time…. and then wondering what the hell to do with each other. There really was sort of a conversation going on, as they tried to figure out where to go from here.

Slowly, the kiss started back up, and with the addition of lips, the game changed a little. Things got a little more pleasant, and Maka began to see maybe why people liked it. There certainly was a distinct and very powerful sort of intimacy going on with tongue kissing she hadn't necessarily expected. It ramped up the intensity of the kiss rather sharply, despite their clumsiness and inexperience.

In fact, to her absolute shock, Maka found herself beginning to enjoy herself again…though she was still ever so slightly torn about it. She definitely liked kissing him…even with tongues involved, though _**that**_ was going to take probably weeks of getting used to before she would actually enjoy it.

Still, she ended up getting surprisingly distracted and wrapped up in the kiss, to the point where she got slightly out of breath. Based off the rapid puffs of air on her cheek, he was also into it, which was a huge relief. It was gratifying to know that, not only had her plan worked and he had gotten past a lot of his issues, but he was also seemingly enjoying himself.

Eventually they separated, panting heavily and staring at each other with wide eyes.

"So…was that…cool with you?" She panted, blinking to try and bring her mind fully back on line. It was somewhat shocking to discover just how fuzzy her higher mental functions had gotten from a single kiss.

A small choked laugh escaped him in reply to her question. "Yeah. Definitely cool."

At that point she looked down, noted her position perched on his lap, and stared, wondering how she ended up there. "Do you remember how I got here?"

"What do you mean?"

"In your lap. I don't remember how I got in your lap."

"Oh. Yeah. I guess you are. Huh." He seemed as bewildered as her. "I think you did it when you first shoved your tongue in my mouth."

"Hey!" She gave him a very light Maka Chop. "Don't say it like that!"

He winced from the tap, probably expecting something harder, and protested, "Well you did…"

With a huff she extracted herself, careful not to knee him accidentally, and then brushed herself off and straitened her skirt out. It was a semblance of control, when inside she really felt all trembly and shaky and discombobulated from that crazy kiss.

"Well, I think we should go to bed now." When she caught his look, she was quick to clarify, "Separately! Don't look at me like that! I just meant we should go to sleep now before anything else happens. I don't think I'm ready for anything more than that."

"Right." He sighed and then lazily shoved his hands in his pockets and stood. "I call dibs on the bathroom."

"Uh, sure."

Once he had disappeared, she blew out a breath and sat on the couch again, her thighs a little wobbly. That had been more intense than she'd expected and she felt a little off balance from it. Thankfully by the time Soul made a reappearance she had gotten herself mostly together again.

As for Soul, he went to bed quickly, pretty exhausted after the crazy day he'd just had – and of course sleepy from jerking off in the shower. Thankfully Maka hadn't noticed his hard on, because he figured she probably would have freaked. Then again, maybe not. She'd shown him a rather shocking side of herself today. He never would have expected her to take control like that, given how timid she usually seemed when it came to physical intimacies. Perhaps he'd underestimated her…not that he was complaining by any means.

Unfortunately, his rest that night was somewhat fitful, given the amount of wet dreams he experienced.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hello everyone! I hope 2018 is treating you all well so far!

As for this story, as you can see we finally got to a hint of citrus...yay! It's about time right? And we get to see how Maka deals with physical intimacies a little bit here. Obviously she's going to have to take things slow, but it seems like she's dealing pretty well. ;D

As always, a huge thank you to everyone who reviews! You guys are the ones who keep me writing!


	22. Chapter 22

After sleeping very well, Maka woke from a dream starring the one and only Soul Eater Evans…doing some very interesting things with that soul eating mouth of his.

So understandably she woke rather flustered.

Groaning and stretching with a sigh, she lay back and enjoyed the last few fuzzy moments of sleep. Memories of last night filtered through…understandable considering the theme of the dream from which she just woke. It was still amazing to her how things had changed – from her starting out timid and nervous about something as simple as a kiss, only for Soul to be the one to blow a gasket in the end. Really, once she had taken control of the situation - and it was more about helping Soul - she hadn't been afraid of the physical intimacy involved. They had even managed to get a relatively heavy make-out session going before she'd called it quits.

It was a huge relief to Maka, looking back on it, because it told her that she was capable of being in a relationship, like _that_ , and not freak out. Sure, she had felt uncomfortable at times, and every now and then it had gotten a little out of hand or weird or slightly gross, but overall it had been quite an informative and pleasurable experience. She still wasn't ready for anything further than what they had done last night, at least not yet, but making out with Soul had certainly showed her that it was possible for her to get past her hang-ups when it came to physical stuff…and given enough time, maybe even all of them. Just a month ago she never would have been able to even consider what she had done yesterday evening.

The thought was a hopeful one, and left her feeling happy as she hopped out of bed with a smile and got ready for the day, dressing in causal comfy clothes since today was Sunday and didn't require anything spiffier.

Once her morning rituals were complete, she bounced into the kitchen to cooking oatmeal and waffles, with cut strawberries on the side because she knew Soul was especially fond of them.

Once the pot had finished bubbling and the waffles had finished waffling, she placed everything on the table and trotted over to Soul's bedroom door, which was still predictably closed tight. Soft snores could be heard from the other side and she paused a second before her knuckles rapped on the wood, a small smile gracing her lips as something warm and buttery fluttered in her chest. Though, she felt a little silly for getting all happy and stupid over simply waking up her boyfriend...but just thinking the word made her love-sick symptoms ten times worse.

Putting a lock-down on all that nonsense, she rapped smartly on the door again and waited for a response. When all she got was a loud grunt, she sighed and opened the door to stick her head in first for a quick analysis as to whether he was decent. Once she had determined that he was indeed wearing pajama pants at least, judging by the pajama-clad ankle peeking out from under the covers, she entered the room fully. Walking over to his bed she gently tapped his shoulder.

"Soul, breakfast's ready."

He grumbled in his sleep and just rolled over to face away from her, pulling the covers firmly over his head in a patented burrito position.

"If that's the way you want to play…"

She got one knee up on the bed behind his lower back, and put both hands on him - one on his shoulder and the other on his rib cage - and gave him a firm shake.

"Soul! It's time to get up!"

That got a little more of a reaction. He snorted and muttered, "Wha?" and for a moment she thought maybe she had woken him up. But then he just started snoring again and seemed to fall right back asleep.

"Darn it all Soul…"

"Need some help?" A carefully innocent voice mewed from the doorway and Maka turned to give Blaire a stern look.

"No. Thank you."

She just snickered and parked her furry butt down to observe the morning wake-up struggle ritual.

Turning back to Soul, Maka gave him another shake. He was especially difficult to wake up this morning and she had to wonder just what had him so tired.

"Try taking your top off and rubbing your boobs on him. That usually does the trick." A certain cat advised, and Maka felt a blood vessel pop out dangerously in her forehead.

"Unlike _some_ people, I'm not a slut. So, no."

"Ha-ha, very funny. But _you_ wouldn't be acting slutty. After all, he's your boyfriend now right?"

"Blaire….shut up."

She laughed and continued to watch.

All the shouting must have done something, because the thing she had been leaning most of her body weight on – aka Soul – shifted and he poked out the top of his head, just enough to uncover one bleary red eye. The movement knocked Maka off balance though, and she ended up doing a face plant right into the covers on the other side of him, draping her torso sideways over him like a seatbelt.

"Mrrrph!"

She peeled her face out of the covers with a, "PhFthooo," as she spat them out of her mouth and then glanced up to see that more of his head had poked out. Now, both crimson eyes were peering down at her curiously with his eyebrows raised.

"Wha're you doin'?" He asked, his voice muffled from the blankets still covering the lower half of his face.

"Falling on top of you apparently." She spat, and removed one hand and arm from where it had gotten pinned uncomfortably between her body and his and used it to pick a long white hair out of her mouth. It took a few tries and she simply let all her weight rest on top of him in the meantime, figuring he deserved it after being so stubborn. It wasn't the most comfortable for her either, since his hip was a little bony where it shoved into her belly.

She also ignored the raucous sounds of Blaire's laughter from the open doorway.

Soul grunted and wriggled beneath her. Then one of his arms popped out from under the covers and snagged the back of her shirt. Right as she managed to pull the hair out of her mouth, she was yanked up by her shirt and dragged across him. As always, she was surprised by his strength and wondered if it was just an innate quality of weapons in general. Maybe their muscles were made of steel too? She knew it wasn't a result of the gym, because he never went.

It was awkward and gave her cloth burns all across her torso and stretched her shirt out way too much as her body was pulled over his and then deposited next to him. She ended up sort of twisted, with her legs still draped over his hip.

"Soul!" She protested loudly, scrambling to right herself and nearly kicking him in a bad place. He grunted and fended her off as she squirmed around to lay flat on her back and then propped herself up to glare down at him. As soon as she stopped moving though, he draped an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"Gonna sleep a little longer…"

Taken aback, she just stared at him with her mouth agape, astonished by how ridiculous he was acting. He promptly started snoring again.

Weighing her options, she determined that there was no harm in indulging just a little. Normally she never would consider it, but today…she found herself enjoying the warmth of his body stretched out next to hers and pressing into her side. Surely there was nothing wrong with enjoying his body heat for just a little while.

So, with a sigh she muttered, "Okay, but just a little while."

Laying back down, she turned so that she could fit her body into the curve of his and he instantly accommodated by curling against her and tucking his legs right up under hers. His face nuzzled into the back of her neck and after a moment she felt moisture tickle her skin and dampen her hair. Ew…he was drooling.

She wasn't entirely sure what to think about that. It was certainly gross, but was also a little bit endearing in a strange way as well. Deciding to chew him out for it later, she ended up just letting it happen.

After a while, she heard the soft padding of paws leave and knew that Blaire had – for the moment at least – lost interest in them.

To her surprise she actually dosed off for a moment and reawoke at least thirty minutes later, to find that somehow she had gotten under the covers, or maybe they hadn't been trapped under her to begin with – it was really hard to tell sometimes with the way Soul balled them all up and got them tangled around himself. Soul certainly didn't seem to mind her invading the space beneath his blankets, and in fact had thoroughly tangled himself around her, much like he did with said covers. She wasn't really sure exactly how things had ended up where they were, or exactly what was what since he had also managed to entwine the blankets in and around them both as well.

One of her thighs was trapped somehow and couldn't move at all, while it felt like one of his had worked its way between hers. His hand also seemed to be down there somewhere between their knees while his face was lower on her back, closer to between her shoulder blades. She knew exactly where his mouth was though, because of the damp spot. She wasn't sure how one of her arms had gotten stuck under her or where his other arm was, but her one free hand started patting around to try and figure out where to start to disentangle them.

It was hopeless and after a moment of trying to analyze the situation and logically disentangle them, she simply decided to go with the method of just squirming around to try and free herself. It had the added benefit of waking up Soul, which she was made aware of instantly as the hand between their legs suddenly clamped down, his fingers digging reflexively into her inner thigh as it also jerked up a little. Then she felt his mouth open in a yawn before sharp teeth pricked at her through her shirt.

Getting a mouthful of her shirt seemed to confuse him and he spat it out with a grunt.

"Wha-Maka?" He mumbled groggily. "What are you doing here?"

"You dragged me into bed with you. Don't you remember?"

"Mmmmm…no…wait…yeah." He groaned and then yawned again, his body flexing against hers as he attempted to stretch.

That had the result of abruptly dragging his hand even further up in between her legs and she yelped as his thumb pressed up into the crease between thigh and groin … and other stuff in the area.

"Hand! Watch where your hand gets put!" She barked, instantly wiggling around and struggling to free her legs while at the same time reaching for the problem with her free hand.

It took him a second in his sleepy state to realize what she meant but as soon as he did he jerked and then stiffened.

"Woah! Sorry!"

He quickly yanked on his arm, got a little stuck in the covers for a second and then finally managed to free himself and put a stop to the inappropriate touching. Maka wasn't ready for that sort of thing just yet, at least not without psyching herself up for it first.

Feeling exceptionally flustered, she cleared her throat and attempted to remove herself from the covers… which clung to her like an overeager octopus. The thought was amusing, given the way her father liked to refer to soul as "octopus head" for some weird reason. She always figured it was a comment on the way his hair stuck up wildly.

By the time she had managed to detach herself from the mess, she was somewhat flushed and even more discomfited, given how all the squirming around gave her a good feel of Soul's body against hers in a way she hadn't before – at least not that thoroughly. Once free, she sat up and reached a hand up to her hair, feeling how it had gotten matted up in the back thanks to Soul's drool. Which reminded her…

Suppressing her blush as much as possible, she turned to give him a stern look, freezing him in place as he worked on untangling himself with a few expert kicks. "You drool in your sleep."

He blinked up at her. "Cool guys don't drool." He deadpanned.

Her eyebrows couldn't sit still on that one, because she knew he was fully aware of the habit he had of drooling over food, sleep, and at other random intervals throughout the day.

"Okay…"

Shaking her head at the ridiculous statement, she tucked her legs up so she could sit cross-legged on the bed facing him.

"You ready to get up yet? I can reheat breakfast."

He finally kicked the blankets off, leaving him in just his pajama pants, which were low on his hips thanks to the tug of war with his covers. She tried to not look too hard at his bare upper body for two reasons. One, she still experienced a little pang of guilt whenever she saw his scar… and two, she worried that under the circumstances it might make her more uncomfortable than she was already, and she didn't want to blush any harder. After a moment though, she lost the battle with her interest and curiosity and let her gaze skate over his form.

It wasn't like she hadn't seen him half naked before, but those times had always been brief – due to her usually throwing something at him and yelling for him to put on some clothes – and she hadn't paid close attention to the way he looked. She'd never been privileged with an up-close opportunity to just sit and stare at him before…nor would she have ever let herself. This was why she now found herself quite fascinated by the sight.

She was half listening as his sleep roughened voice said, "Sure. What's for breakfast?"

"Oatmeal and waffles." She distractedly replied.

Apparently, he noted her lack of attention. "Earth to Maka."

"Hm?" Her eyes instantly shot back up to meet his. He had a tiny grin curling his lips and his expression was an interesting mixture of discomfort, embarrassment, and smugness.

"What got you so distracted just now?"

"Oh, uh…you're not wearing a shirt." She stated bluntly.

"Yes. I am aware."

She shrugged. "Well, it's distracting."

The smugness increased a little, and his smile became a little cocky. "Like what you see?"

She rolled her eyes. Soul could have these moments of confidence where he was almost insufferable, but at the same time it was amusing and, in this case, kind of attractive in a weird way.

She flushed a smidge, but didn't really see any point in lying. There had been enough of that already between them and she'd made up her mind to be completely honest with him from now on. "Yeah." She admitted, which threw him off a little.

His smile dropped the cocky edge for a second as he blinked, looking a little shocked, maybe at her readiness to answer. "Uh…really?"

She wasn't sure if he was asking about her liking his body, or if he was just confused about her answer for some other reason, but she still repeated herself. "Yeah. You look good without your shirt on. Though I've wondered about how in the heck you stay fit without going to the gym." She reached out and poked his flat stomach in clarification about what she meant.

He didn't exactly have abs, not a six pack like you'd see in a model's picture or something like that. You couldn't wash clothes on them for sure, but there was definitely muscle there. Even when relaxed like it was now, his stomach was still taut with a few ripples here and there that indicated where his abdominal and rib muscles were. If he tightened them, you could definitely see them though. The muscles in his chest were better developed than his abs, and he actually possessed a pretty good pair of pectorals. His arms were like that as well, slender but with enough muscle that they had nice definition and tone to them. He was no body builder, but he was far from a stick.

To her, he was perfect.

In response to her poking him he tensed and flinched away – showing off some of his muscles in a fascinating display as he did so – and then he caught her hand. "That tickles!" He protested, baring his teeth at her in a displeased grimace.

"Sorry…" She chuckled unapologetically, unable to keep the slight grin from her face.

After a second she managed to compose herself and glanced back down, gently tugging on her wrist in a request to be let go from Soul's still tight grip. He obliged and she moved her hand to his chest, tapping one of the overly obvious stitches.

"Stein sure does love his stitches, doesn't he? I think he may have overstated these a bit."

Soul glanced down at the scar and smirked. "Yeah. Probably. But you gotta admit, it looks cool."

Snorting with surprised laughter, she admitted, "Yeah. I suppose it does. It certainly gives you an edge."

He grinned back. "With him as our doctor I'm pretty sure everyone here at the DWMA are gonna have his stitch marks on them eventually." He caught her hand, and his fingers trailed over the linear scars there. "He already got you after all."

"Yeah." She paused, and then thought out loud, "Although he'll never touch Kid. Kid would have a heart attack with asymmetrical stitching."

Soul burst out laughing. "Oh yeah. Totally."

Her hand tugged free from his hold again and her fingers absentmindedly trailed down the raised line of his scar. She could feel the ripples of laughter going through his form as she passed over his apparently ticklish stomach. After a moment though, the laughter trailed off and then he seemed to stop breathing entirely. Maka just continued the mark all the way down to where it ended on his opposite hip and then started counting the stiches on the way back up, her finger lightly tapping each one as she counted silently. She'd reached sixteen when her counting was interrupted by an unwelcome voice.

"Well now… it looks like Soul has a little problem. Need any assistance with _helping_ him Maka?"

Both heads turned to look at their kitty friend, who had magically appeared sitting on Soul's thigh, still in cat form thankfully.

Given her location and the words she just spoke, Maka's attention was instantly drawn to the fact that, yes, Soul did indeed seem to have sprouted a problem that was clearly noticeably through his pajamas. Blaire was staring at it with a feline grin that said she was clearly planning to make it her new cat toy if given the opportunity.

Both teens instantly turned tomato red with embarrassment, though Maka did her best to shove her embarrassment down. This was a perfectly natural reaction, she told herself. It was morning. Men – young men in particular – tended to have something called morning wood, and she was sure that her touching and complimenting him had certainly helped the process along.

Soul somehow managed to hang onto his cool for the most part, aside from the vivid blushing and very slight nosebleed which he had already stymied.

"Dumb cat! How about you get off my thigh?"

"Oh, sure! Why don't I just step up to…" She stood and walked up his leg, aiming right for the problem area – where she was undoubtedly planning to plop her butt and probably turn human.

With a growl Soul said, "Not happening." A scythe blade popped out of his groin area, probably from his hip, and curved menacingly towards the approaching feline. Her yellow eyes opened wide with shock and she scooted back quickly.

Even Maka was shocked, and the random thought popped into her head that he might prove to be an exceptionally dangerous lover if he ever lost control of those blades. She could get cut in some very unpleasant places…or downright killed.

Blaire made a hasty retreat, apparently coming to the same realization.

There was a long silence, during which Soul retracted the blade, and then she cleared her throat and decided to voice her concern. "Uh…just out of curiosity, does that ever happen…accidentally? Like in moments of…um…" The only time she could imagine him losing control would be orgasm, but she really didn't want to just come out and say that. Even thinking it had her flushing and shifting uncomfortably.

Apparently, between the half-finished question, the way her eyes darted at and then away from his groin, and her blush, he figured out what she was thinking.

"Uh…." There was a somewhat disturbingly long silence that didn't bode well. "Well…to be honest, yeah. Rarely, but every so often it does happen. But I'm able to control it enough to not cut myself or shred the bed, so I'm sure I could route them away from you too."

She gulped, the thought of him popping out a blade during intimate relations ever so slightly terrifying. In the end though, this was Soul, whose blade she had literally stood on and had against just about every available inch of skin. She knew how he could dull his blade at a millisecond's notice to prevent it from cutting her if she somehow came into contact with the sharp edge during battle, and he hadn't cut her in years. The few times he _had_ cut her were all within the first year that they started partnering with each other. So, she decided to trust him. The only reason it had to be a conscious decision at all was because it was in such a different sort of situation.

After clearing her throat, she nodded. "Right. Well, I've felt how dull you can make your blades. So, I'm sure there wouldn't be any problem if it happened."

He visibly relaxed and she realized that he must have gotten very anxious…understandably. If she were in his position, she certainly would have been nervous as to how he would react.

After a while, she glanced down to note that he was still…awake. "Uh…you're still…"

"I know. Thanks for pointing that out."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Yeah."

She quickly averted her eyes, flushing a little and finally clambering off the bed. Clearing her throat and straightening out her hopelessly rumpled clothes, she gave herself a final pat-down and then headed for the door.

"Well, I'm gonna heat up breakfast."

"Cool."

She heard the bed springs squeak as he got up as well and then the sounds of him moving around, undoubtedly to get ready. So, she closed the door behind her and attempted to focus on the task at hand and not the memory of her first up-close view of an erection – through clothes though it may have been. It had taken her by surprise, and she was now left to deal with her shock in private as she attempted to get breakfast back on.

The real deal poking out at her had been surprisingly jarring, even though she wasn't naïve about these things - especially not with her father.

From a young age, she'd overheard all sorts of things she shouldn't have and knew plenty about sex. It was probably one of the reasons why she had always considered sex to be so gross, and until now she had thought penises were rather disgusting as well.

Actually, that wasn't precisely accurate. Penises in and of themselves were fine, they were just another body part. It was when they got stiff that she generally found them distasteful, even though she knew often it wasn't the guy's fault. Even in textbooks, when they showed a diagram of an erect penis, she tended to find it unpleasant to look at. The gross-factor was simply a knee-jerk reaction for her – which was a big part of why she was currently so stunned about what just happened.

The incident back in the bedroom had been the first time she hadn't been grossed out by a hard on.

It made sense, she supposed. After all, it had been Soul. If she was going to be okay with any erection, it would have to be Soul's. Not only was she in love with him, but he was also her best friend. In fact, now that she thought about it, she'd never been disgusted by his _reactions_ – though of course they hadn't been too noticeable since he'd been wearing jeans and had always adjusted himself quickly. But the nose-bleeds had given it away easily enough. Thankfully it seemed he had been getting ahold of that particular reaction, probably simply because being around Blaire so much had toughened his nose up to the point that it didn't bleed as easily anymore.

No, she'd never been disgusted by him, though she would get pissed if he got distracted by a sexy lady during a fight.

This incident though was distinctly different, and didn't leave the taste of irritation in her mouth.

It was invasive, persistently coming up in her brain as she put the pot back on the stove and stuck the waffles in the toaster to re-crisp. It had been odd to experience, and it was embarrassing to find herself still thinking about it, but overall it had been…interesting. Intriguing. Her curiosity had been roused, sort of an intense, different sort of curiosity that was edged in heat. Now she couldn't help but wonder what it looked like, what it felt like, how he touched it, whether he would like it if she touched it, all sorts of things she had never wondered before. It wasn't entirely comfortable for her, and seemed an entirely inappropriate topic of thought for being hunched over a pot of oatmeal. Oatmeal and penises should never coexist, but that was precisely what was going on in her mind as she both focused on not burning the oatmeal as it reheated and her contemplations on Soul's male anatomy.

It was a very strange circumstance to be sure.

Finally the boy in question reappeared from his room, wearing sweats and no longer sporting the object of her curiosity. He slouched into the kitchen, ruffling his hair and yawning. Hopefully he would serve as a good distraction to keep her mind out of the gutter for more than a few seconds at a time.

"Morning Soul."

"Morning." He grunted, sticking his head in the fridge to find some orange juice.

It wasn't long before they sat down to breakfast.

For some time there was tense, awkward silence…

After a while, Maka rearranged her feet under the table, and in the process bumped up against one of his feet. They were both barefoot. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal, but with the way they were hyper-aware of each other, suddenly it became one. It was ridiculous how her gut tensed up and fluttered, just because her foot touched his, but she couldn't help the silly reaction. Pretending to not notice, she continued eating as if nothing had happened. All the while though, her mind was focused on her feet, wondering if maybe she could – or should – try for another touch…and see what he would do.

That was a thing couples did, right? Play footsie?

The desire to touch his foot with hers was shockingly strong for the simple action, and there was no harm in it, so after a moment she gathered up her courage and went for another pass. Careful to continue eating normally, she slowly inched her toes along the ground in the direction she now knew his foot to be, unless he had moved it. He hadn't though, and soon her big toe bumped lightly into his warm instep. She froze for a second, but then was quick to swallow the bite she had just taken and take a swig of juice, still pretending that nothing was going on.

Her heartrate was fast, which made no sense. Apparently, the ridiculous organ was overly excitable when it came to all these new activities she suddenly found herself allowed to pursue. She'd left her toe in contact with him for a moment to see if he'd retreat, and when he didn't she nudged a little closer until the side of her foot itself was just barely in contact with his arch. His foot tensed, flinching a little, but stayed put. That seemed to be permission, so she inched her foot forwards again, sliding the side of her foot fully against his.

Her leg was stretched out sort of diagonally so that the inner sides of their feet were in contact. Their table was small though, so it was only a short distance.

That was about all she could muster to start with, because she was already starting to blush just a tad. Partly her embarrassment was due to the fact that it seemed a little silly to be initiating this sort of contact. But the flush was also partly excitement, because everything seemed so new and exhilarating when it came to this stuff.

She didn't really expect him to respond, or wasn't sure how he would, but after a few moments she tensed when she felt his foot flex a little against hers before the side of his big toe stretched up and touched the side of her ankle. He prodded her there playfully for a moment and then pulled back some to fit his toes under her arch. She nearly choked on a strawberry when he wiggled his toes, which tickled the underside of her foot a little and also surprised her. Jerking back her foot a little, she found his toes with her own and put his big toe in a chokehold between her big and middle toe.

They proceeded to have something of a wrestling match. By that point, neither of them were feigning ignorance. Instead, they were staring into each other's eyes challengingly, with broad silly grins on their faces.

After breakfast and their impromptu footsie match, they washed the dishes together. When Soul got a little too ambitious and tried flicking some bubbles at her, Maka took her wet dish towel and proceeded to chase him around the apartment with it, threatening to pop him as she twisted it tight into a whip. He tried not to laugh, since that wouldn't necessarily be considered cool, but failed as she missed him and somehow her wild swing ended up slapping the wet cloth into her own face.

The antics continued for a while, but eventually they did successfully finish the dishes and then settled into their afternoon Sunday routine. Maka comfortably seated herself next to Soul on the couch, curled up with a good book as he put on a video game.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hello everyone! Sorry for the slight delay on this one, I got the flu and was out of commission for a while there. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this super fluffy chapter!

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! You guys are awesome!


	23. Chapter 23

Things continued on normally for several weeks. They attended classes, went on missions, and everything was the same as it had been before – just with the addition of dates and kisses. And a few hickeys.

That had been an interesting discovery for Maka…to find out about Soul's fondness for chewing on her. It was especially surprising after their bumpy start when it came to his mouth getting anywhere near her. However, once he started getting over his mouth issues, she definitely began to see a whole new side of him.

The first time it happened was only a week or two after first getting together. It had been a Friday night– movie night for them – and they'd already picked out a superhero movie and popped the popcorn. Both meister and weapon were settled in on the couch and the lights were dim - the way they liked it when watching a movie. Lately they had taken to sitting differently, with Maka situated between Soul's legs and leaning back into his chest. It made for a few interesting cricks in their necks as they turned their heads to the side somewhat to face the TV, but it wasn't overly uncomfortable.

Tonight though, it was somewhat worrisome, because she had some sore spots she didn't want Soul to become aware of. They'd recently come back from a mission and Maka was nursing a few bruises from some blows that had snuck past her defenses. None of her injuries were even remotely serious, but they still made for a few tender areas.

Lately, Soul had been acting a bit weird about her getting hurt on the job and seemed extra over protective. He seemed more aggravated and bothered by any injuries she sustained on a mission…more-so than ever before. She figured it was probably a product of their changing relationship, but hoped he wouldn't get too weird about it since it might impact their ability to fight together.

And that was why she hadn't told him about the bruises.

Unfortunately, their sitting position wasn't great for hiding bruises. Mid-way through the movie – after Maka had gotten wrapped up in the plot and forgot about her bruised ribs – Soul sharply reminded her of them. It was completely unintentional on his part of course. He was merely shifting to sit a little more comfortably behind her, and had also shifted her with an arm wrapped around her middle and a hand on her ribs. The pressure on the tender area made her flinch, especially since she hadn't been anticipating pain at that particular moment.

Her wince was obvious enough for Soul to instantly pick up on it, and he froze. "What's up? You okay?"

"Oh…uh…yeah. I'm fine."

"Why'd you jerk then?"

Since honesty was now her policy when it came to Soul, she – grudgingly – admitted, "Well…you may have accidentally poked a bruise. But it really is fine. Let's just focus on the movie…"

She felt him tense up behind her, and sighed, preparing for him to get upset. There was a long moment of silence, during which she watched the movie and let herself hope that was the end of it.

Unfortunately not though, because after a few moments, he grumbled under his breath, "…didn't know you'd gotten hurt." Then a little louder he asked, "Was it from our last mission?"

"Yes…but seriously Soul, I'm not going to tell you about every little scrape and bruise I get. That would be stupid."

There was another long pause, and then predictably she felt his breath on her neck as he mumbled, "…I don't think it's stupid to be concerned about your wellbeing." He sounded downright sulky, and since it was said so quietly - almost hissed really - she only really got the gist of what he was saying.

Judging by how tense he felt and the tone of his voice, he was pissed. Maka simply rolled her eyes and decided to ignore his impromptu hissy fit. He'd get over it quickly enough. Sure enough, he eventually began to relax behind her, and shortly after that she felt a gust of hot breath on the back of her neck as he sighed. That was a good sign, and meant he was probably done being bitchy.

Things went back to normal it seemed after that, although Maka did note that Soul's fingers started traveling, lightly playing across her stomach. He must know basically where her bruises were, based on the previous flinch, and he mapped out the area with careful fingertips over her shirt. It wasn't unexpected, he tended to get more touchy-feely when he discovered she'd been hurt…even when it was a minor hurt. It was like the light strokes were apologetic almost, or sympathetic.

As the movie continued rolling, Soul's fingers continued moving across her, and eventually the light caresses morphed into something else, more of an affectionate touch as he stroked her tummy, keeping himself mindfully gentle. For Maka, the sensation was just shy of being ticklish, but even so she felt her stomach flutter under his fingers more than once. Really, it felt surprisingly pleasant and she found herself thoroughly enjoying the attention. Warmth built up in her gut, excitement and tension mounting in a tight confusing ball, and little butterflies made an appearance quite low in her belly.

She jumped when the light sensation of his lips touched her neck, soft and pliant and somewhat hesitant. Over the past few week or two they had indulged in more kissing, so the sensation of Soul's mouth on her skin didn't disturb her, however it was a bit out of character for him. It had taken some time to get him completely comfortable with his mouth being in contact with her, and he still occasionally shied away from it, though it had gotten much better.

She certainly wasn't complaining. The sensation of his warm breath and warmer mouth on her skin was pleasant and she tilted her head to the side to give him more access. By this point she had somewhat lost track of the plot in their movie, and was instead focusing more of her attention on Soul and his gentle hands and soft lips.

So far, he had always proven to be a very considerate and gentle lover, which she never would have predicted given how rough their first kiss was. Of course, there had been times where they had kissed to the point of things getting rougher, but so far that had been relatively rare. Maka knew he was probably holding himself back for her sake. Quite frankly though, she had found that she didn't mind things getting a little more intense from time to time…just as long as her boundaries were respected.

Shortly after their relationship became physical, she had laid down a few ground rules. Kissing was fine, making out was fine, and hugging and cuddling were both fine. She had even gotten to the point where she didn't mind feeling his hard on against her leg when he accidentally pressed up against her during kisses – however he did try to keep that to a minimum since she had specified that she wasn't ready for any sort of genital contact yet. Their clothes also had to remain intact.

He was very respectful of these rules – amazingly, since she was probably being unrealistic in her demands. However, she had quickly realized that she was more comfortable with physical intimacies if she was in control, and setting rules allowed her to be in control of the situation. They made her feel safe and comfortable in uncomfortable situations – such as an unspecified physical relationship. She was fine with being vulnerable and close to Soul emotionally, in fact she loved it, but physical intimacy was still a problem for her…thanks to the disgust towards all things sexual she'd harbored since childhood.

Thankfully she had been able to explain this to Soul within the earliest days of their budding relationship, and naturally he had taken it in stride. Even though she probably hadn't been able to explain it fully - since she still didn't understand the full ramifications of it herself - he got the gist of it quickly. He knew enough to completely respect her need for rules.

With his respect for her boundaries, they were able to progress relatively quickly, though it was still slower than she knew most couples did.

Occasionally he did push her. However, he always asked permission before doing something new. They were both aware that taking things too fast might result in some bad emotional backlash for her.

At the very least, her revulsion towards anything remotely sexual was quickly dissolving, but it was leaving behind an aftertaste of discomfort, anxiety, and unpleasant vulnerability that frightened her. Those feelings generally expressed themselves in just over all moods of uneasiness, but one very distinct problem had arisen as well. Becoming more comfortable with the idea of sex had spawned a previously undiscovered issue: to her a woman who had sex, or sought sex, or enjoyed sex was a slut. It was unconscious and unintentional on her part, but it was definitely there.

Before, when she had been utterly disgusted at the idea, it had been like a barrier, and made her feel superior, but now…it was different. Without that barrier, suddenly she was questioning herself in ways she never had before – which sucked.

Thankfully though, she was mostly able to suppress those thoughts, because they were ridiculous. So, at least at the moment, they didn't affect her too strongly. But she certainly suspected that that particular issue might cause some hiccups along the way as they got more and more intimate.

Still, that was definitely where the rules came in handy to help her feel more at ease. With those in place, she was allowed to feel safe while still exploring things.

Speaking of…Soul's hands had shifted from her belly to her chest area, and he was now gently cupping and squeezing her breasts. This was something relatively new, which she had only just gotten okay with a few days ago. He was now allowed to grope her boobs – gently though, which she constantly reminded him about if he got too eager – but it had to be over her clothes and bra. For Maka, it had been a bit nerve wracking at first and triggered some of her issues, but she'd quickly realized it wasn't really a big deal. In fact, once she'd been able to relax some, she realized that it felt pretty good, kind of like a massage… but one that caused heat to pool in her belly.

Soul certainly seemed to like it.

His lips on her neck increased in pressure, and he kissed her with a little more purpose, even sucking on the skin. To her surprise, that actually felt pretty good too. She enjoyed the suction on her skin, which was unexpectedly sensitive on her neck apparently. Paired with the hands on her body, his lips stole whatever interest she had left in the movie. Cranking her neck even further to the side, her eyes closed as she stopped all pretense of watching the TV. Pink goblins could have taken over New York City and she wouldn't know…. Nor would she particularly care.

Soul kissed up and down the column of her neck, from her ear to her shoulder, and paused every now and then to suck. By now his hard-on was pressing against her rear, which was unavoidable in this particular position. As usual, that did make her a bit uncomfortable, but mostly she just did her best to ignore it, as always.

On one of his passes near her ear he paused to mutter, "Is this alright?"

She grinned a little. He was always very careful to ask about anything they hadn't done before, and she was more than grateful. It always reaffirmed that she had made the right choice in pursuing a relationship with him and made her love him a little more each time.

Quietly she mumbled back, "Yeah…it's nice."

She could feel his mouth curve into a pleased smile of his own, and then his lips parted to give her more open-mouthed kisses. Perhaps it was inevitable, but she still jumped a bit at the first light scrape of sharp teeth over her neck. He instantly pulled back.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?"

"Soul…you barely touched me with your teeth. Chill."

In fact, thinking back on the little incident, she realized that it had felt kind of nice, although she wasn't sure why. It didn't make sense for the light scratching sensation to feel good, but it had.

After a moment of deliberation, she admitted, "Actually…it felt kind of good."

He pulled back even more to give her a disbelieving look. "You've gotta be kidding me."

With a huff she rolled her eyes. "You really think I'd be making jokes right now? Seriously? I mean, right in the middle of…what's this called? 'Necking' right? I think I've heard people call it that…" Her voice trailed off as she tried to remember if that was indeed the correct term.

He snorted, and thankfully didn't press the issue. Instead, Maka felt his mouth return to her neck and she sighed, shutting up and relaxing back into him once again. To be honest, her tendency to talk sometimes made situations such as these awkward, but thankfully Soul didn't seem to be bothered too much by it.

The rest of the movie was spent with their attention firmly elsewhere. Soul got into the kissing stuff more than Maka ever would have expected. The only thing she was a little iffy about was when he used his tongue. However, it was only a slight discomfort, and would have been much worse if she hadn't already gotten used to french-kissing. The only reason she had some hesitance about it was because it was new…and mentally seemed a little gross to her. Still, when mixed in with the kissing, nipping, and sucking, it felt fine.

Soon she was dealing with more of a leech than a man, as he latched onto her neck and didn't seem to want to let go. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing though. Maka found it more enjoyable than she would have predicated - and whenever he sucked too hard or his teeth pressed too sharply into her skin all she had to do was grunt, "Lighten up a bit!" or "Ouch! Gentle!" and he would instantly adjust whatever needed adjusting.

The sync between their souls widened a little with the increased intimacy, though neither of them was exactly aware of it. However, because of it, Soul knew that she was enjoying the activities, and so he didn't bother asking her again if this was okay. Aside from adjusting something if she complained, generally he just amused himself with exploring the space between jaw and collarbones with his lips, teeth, and tongue in a thorough manner. Thanks to the resonance, he also knew when he hit a spot that was particularly nice to her, and would linger there longer than the others.

As for Maka, she was soon just as engrossed in the activity as Soul, since it was so surprisingly pleasurable. It also had her reassessing her previous opinion of Soul as a lover. He wasn't as gentle as she'd thought. Somehow that didn't really bother her though.

There was something about the slight roughness in the activity that she liked. The suction pulling at her skin when he latched on, almost too forcefully sometimes, and the tiny hint of pain and edge of danger presented by his sharp teeth… it set her nerves on fire in a new kind of way. She was used to the thrill of battle and this wasn't entirely unlike that, especially when Soul bit down harder on her…though he was always careful not to bite too hard. Even so, she had to warn him off now and then when it edged too far into discomfort.

It wasn't until much later that night when she looked in the mirror to get ready for bed, that she saw the dark bruises adorning her skin where he had sucked a little too hard or a little too long…leaving a whole assortment of hickeys in his wake.

Maka had been horrified at the discovery.

Soul had been amused.

A light Maka Chop had been administered.

The next day, Maka had worn a scarf.

And that hadn't been the last time either. Nor were they restricted to her neck.

One evening – a couple of weeks later – she woke up from a nap born of exhaustion from over-studying, to find that Soul was chewing on her.

Really, it hadn't started out that way. Soul had just happened to come into the living room and noticed that Maka had seemingly passed out with her book on the couch.

Being the nice, considerate guy that he was, he'd gone over to her and helped her into a more comfortable position and even draped his jacket over her. He left her there and returned to his room where he was currently on his computer. After about an hour he passed by again, noted that her shoes were still on, and decided that maybe he should remove them.

She was wearing those damn thigh highs again; the ones with stars on them that made him see a whole different kind of stars. So, after removing her shoes, he found himself removing her socks as well, which put his hands on her thighs. He was halfway done when he realized that this probably wasn't strictly necessary. Neither was the kiss he risked pressing against the skin above her knee. In her sleep she reacted by trying to kick him, which he found amusing, but still nipped her leg for trying to brain him.

Naturally, that was when she woke up.

"Soul…what are you doing?"

He froze, sharp teeth still on her knee, and only his red eyes moved to slowly look up her body. Luckily, her expression did not spell 'Maka Chop.'

Very carefully he removed his teeth, but left his lips touching her skin as he mumbled, "Um…well…you fell asleep with your shoes on. So, I thought I'd remove them."

"Uh huh…and the socks?"

"Socks go with shoes, right?"

She pursed her lips, and he was relieved to note that she seemed to be hiding a grin. If she had woken up mad, he'd have been screwed.

"Right." She drawled slowly and rolled her eyes.

He risked a grin, and got one back in response. Since she didn't seem opposed to the presence of his hand – which was still on her thigh – he let those fingers tap out a rhythm on her skin. Touching her was always pretty fucking awesome and he couldn't resist it. It was made even more awesome as she shivered at the light touches and didn't protest…which was always a good sign. Maybe he'd actually get under her skirt today if he played his cards right.

It had been a few weeks now, and he was itching to get his hands on more of her. There was no doubt in his mind that sex was a long way off – which was fine – but he really wanted to at least be able to touch her. Maybe that was greedy of him, especially after she gave him permission to grope her chest – which was fan-fucking-tastic and he probably could do that all day – but he just couldn't really help himself from wanting more. Those short skirts of hers had taunted him for years after all.

Currently she had on one sock. He'd managed to take off the other before she woke up. Really, he wasn't paying too much attention to her sock though, he was more focused on his fingers as he played them along her thigh, which jerked every now and then in what he hoped was pleasure. It was kind of hard to tell with her though sometimes… she maintained a pretty straight face and never moaned or anything.

It wasn't until she said something that he noticed what his mouth was doing.

"Soul…you're chewing on my sock."

His eyebrows shot up on his forehead without his permission and he glanced down to notice that, yes, his sharp teeth had latched onto the bunched-up sock near her knee. Apparently, touching her had distracted him so thoroughly that he'd started gnawing on the orange material like a damn dog without even noticing.

Well that was embarrassing.

Trying to play it off cool, he just shrugged. Then a stupid idea popped into his head, and he couldn't quite resist going through with it. A shit-eating grin tugged at his lips despite his best efforts as he made eye contact with her and used his teeth to drag her sock off the rest of the way. Her eyebrows popped up under her bangs, obviously shocked. Hell, he was shocked he'd done it, so he couldn't really blame her.

The leg in his grip tensed up in an interesting way, and he wondered if that was a good thing.

Once he'd managed the trick with her sock – which turned out to be a little tougher than he'd thought it would be – he spat it back out and then returned his mouth to her skin, hoping she was still fine with that. He glanced at her and also tested the flavor of her soul to make sure she was still cool.

Her soul generally told him if he was overstepping his boundaries, and if that failed, he always made sure to ask before doing something potentially stupid.

As of right now, her soul seemed pretty active, a bit excited, and her eyes didn't show any sign that he was doing something he shouldn't. Still, he took things slow, kissing up her leg and thoroughly enjoying the way she jumped every time he nipped her.

That had been one hell of a surprise…when he discovered she actually liked the feel of his teeth on her skin a couple of weeks ago. He'd quickly warmed to it though and let himself play a little with the idea. Maybe he shouldn't have been shocked when he realized that he liked using his teeth on her.

He definitely liked the little twitches he could get from her with light nips to her skin. They certainly helped to distract her as he let his hand slide further up her thigh, getting to the edge of her skirt. That was a fun barrier to mess with, and his fingers screwed around with the fabric for a moment, tracing the edge of it against her skin and tugging on it gently. Those powerful muscles of hers tightened up, and he knew he was treading some dangerous water here. She might pull the plug soon if he wasn't careful.

So, he stopped going upwards for a moment and focused on giving her a hickey on the leg, which was bound to piss her off later. He was totally willing to accept her weak Maka Chop though if it meant he got to suck on her and leave a mark. There was something weirdly satisfying about putting a visual reminder that his mouth had been there.

Now that he'd gotten over his issues with his mouth – thanks to Maka and her bossy ways, he hadn't been given much of a choice in the matter – he took every opportunity he had to use it on her. Maybe he'd always had an oral fetish when it came to her, and he just hadn't known it. Then again, that shouldn't be a huge surprise. After all, he had always been a really mouthy guy. Food, drool, chewing on stuff (like pencils and shit) …. if it could go in or come out of his mouth he did it with relish – or else totally unconsciously, like with the drooling thing. He'd even gone through a bubble gum phase at one point in his life…up until he realized how uncool that was.

Maka was definitely the best thing he ever put in his mouth though. There was just something about kissing and licking and sucking and nipping on her that he just couldn't get enough of. If she was within range of his mouth, he felt like a goddamned magnet.

Right now, he was a happy camper and made himself at home on her thigh, taking turns between using his tongue, teeth, and lips. He also moved around enough that he didn't make any one spot too irritated, although he did leave a few vibrant hickeys as a guilty pleasure. Eventually she relaxed a little, getting into the kisses. Thankfully she seemed to like being the object of his mouth's interest, otherwise he would have been fucked.

Once she'd chilled out a little, he eased his hand up higher, inching fingertips under her skirt. That caused a jerk, and she tensed up again. He glanced up and noted how she watched him. Her face was a bit tight, a little worried, and he prepared himself to put a full stop to shit, because she was looking close to calling it quits. To his surprise though, she didn't. Instead, she just narrowed her eyes and let him put his hand up under her skirt, which got his eyebrows going up his forehead again somewhat in shock. There was probably a question mark plastered all over his face as he absentmindedly drooled onto her thigh now.

Just to be sure, he went ahead and asked. "Uh…is this okay?"

She nodded, pursing her lips at him a little.

As for Maka, she wasn't entirely sure about this, but it didn't seem like a bad thing. If Soul wanted to touch her legs, she didn't see any problem with that, it was just going higher when she got uncertain. However, on the other hand, she was curious to see what would happen. She was interested in attempting more physical intimacy, but there was a chance she might have to stop him if it got out of hand.

Her nerves ramped up as his hand climbed higher, eventually hitting her panty line. She wasn't shy or necessarily afraid of letting him touch her there, but there was a certain amount of discomfort present. It still seemed somewhat distasteful to her in a strange way – not to mention the slight pings of anxiety that assaulted her...

It was okay to let her boyfriend touch her wasn't it? It didn't make her a slut…or like any of those women that her father fooled around with….right?

Of course not, she knew that, and with a deep breath she forced herself to relax. It was almost easy; all she had to do was focus on the feeling of his mouth on her leg as he resumed kissing her there. That had already built warmth within her and was easily used as a distraction.

When Soul stalled along her panty line, she expected the question.

"You sure this is okay? You look kind of…not okay."

With a swallow she rolled her eyes – at herself and how ridiculous she was. She was Maka Albarn damnit…and wasn't scared of anything, and didn't let anything hold her back. "Yes. It's fine. I'm just…uncomfortable. But I'm okay with you touching me over my underwear."

He nodded - as always agreeing to her conditions without question - and continued. The feel of his gentle touch shouldn't have made her flinch, but it did. With another sound internal scolding though, she forced her insecurities into submission.

She was only tense for the first few light exploratory strokes, and then she was already easing up. It really wasn't bad at all. It was kind of…awkward, and felt odd to her, but it wasn't gross exactly. Even though she had thought it was probably going to be okay, there had still been that little doubt and worry that she would find this sort of thing repulsive – even with Soul – but thankfully it didn't spark any kind of reaction like that. Which was a huge relief. It would have been bad to find the touch of her partner's hand disgusting.

Then again…that sparked her other concerns anew, which she just shoved back down. There was literally no reason or purpose to her worrying about the fact that she had accepted his touch. It didn't mean that she was a whore. With a mental hammer, those sorts of concerns were smashed flat and then shoved to the recesses of her mind where they were locked away.

As his agile fingers managed to work their way in between her thighs and explored her through her underwear, Maka eased up the tight squeeze her thighs were currently performing to give him more room to work with. Crushing his hand probably wasn't a nice thing for her to do while he felt her up.

As things continued, her conflicting thoughts and nerves gradually wore off. She eventually relaxed enough to let one bent knee fall against the back of the couch and rest there. At this point it was more _awkward_ than unnerving. His fingers might be nimble and dexterous from playing the piano, but those talented digits still tripped over her like a dumbfounded amateur…which she supposed he was when it came to women. He fumbled with her lady bits, growing more excited as he continued to touch. The light tentative touches changed into more probing ones, which was fine, if a little physically uncomfortable. He was getting a good feel, as much as he could through her panties – which were thankfully full coverage and made of sturdy, relatively unyielding cotton.

On Soul's side of things, he was basically in heaven. He could die happy if he could just keep touching her. Then again…maybe this was hell. He couldn't really tell at the moment.

He was desperate for more, but just getting to do this much was a fucking miracle, so he was happy. More than happy in fact…if he wasn't careful he could do one of the most uncool things possible and cum in his pants. He'd never thought that not jerking off for a few days too many could prove to be so dangerous.

It was a good thing that she put down so many fucking rules, because if he'd been able to get under her panties he might have been a goner. They were pretty damn sturdy for underwear, but somehow that didn't surprise him. Maka was nothing if not well prepared, and with all those high kicks he'd imagine that she would need some durable panties that could withstand the stress. Still, it did kind of get in the way of how well he could feel her up down there…which led to him maybe putting more pressure into his fingers than he should have. Mostly he could just feel warmth and softness and some ridges, which he knew must be the folds of her pussy…a thought which had him instantly trying to make a picture in his head based on the feel of her. He couldn't really do it though…he wasn't exactly a visual artist. And that frustrated the hell out of him.

He desperately wanted to see her, and feel her without any barriers in the way. What did her skin down there feel like? Was it like normal skin or did it feel like the skin on his dick or his balls? Was she wet? He couldn't tell. He hoped so. His brain was turning off.

On Maka's side of things…

It didn't exactly feel good. If anything, he was too rough, much like their first kiss.

He was obviously into it, judging by his glazed expression and how he touched her. Whenever he got too excited he tended to get a little too rough. As they continued to do more and more stuff together, she was slowly putting together a mental tapestry of Soul as a lover. So far, she'd decided that he was a fascinating mix of soft and hard…gentle and tender mostly, with an edge of aggressive passion that rarely showed. So far anyway. His lovemaking was comparable to his mouth: velvet lips and silk tongue hiding dangerously sharp teeth.

Speaking of his mouth…

She almost laughed at the sensation of warm wetness dripping onto her thigh, where his mouth had stopped working. He'd apparently become completely distracted and was now drooling on her…again. It was pretty typical of him.

When one fingernail ground down too hard on her clitoris she winced though, and her hand grabbed his wrist. "Easy. That's my clitoris. Watch your fingernails."

Being so blunt and saying that felt supremely strange, but overall she just wanted to be really straight forward and open about these things with Soul. She wasn't shy. Out of all her issues, that wasn't one of them.

His eyes widened, and he shifted his fingers instantly. "Woah my bad. Sorry."

Maybe telling him where it was hadn't been the best idea because his focus shifted there. Of course, he didn't know what to do with it, and all the focused attention was actually overstimulating in a painful sort of way. One leg shifted, and she couldn't quite help but clamp them down onto his hand a little.

"Kind of sensitive there, Soul. Gentle."

"Oh. Right." He winced and pulled back some.

She sighed, relaxing the death grip on his hand, and his palm curved to the side to cup her inner thigh, where he gave an apologetic rub. "Thanks," she hummed.

It was at this point that she noticed the hickeys on her thighs, and instantly her pleasant mood drained away. "Soul…"

At the change in tone he froze.

There was absolutely no surprise when she Maka Chopped him.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

And here's the new chapter! I had a little trouble uploading the file for some reason, so it caused a slight delay. But I still got it out faster than the last!

I hope everyone enjoyed the citrus scented scenes ;)

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys are awesome!


	24. Chapter 24

One morning, Maka woke, confused and groggy, to find herself tangled up with Soul on the couch.

For a moment the befuddled meister wondered just how the hell she'd gotten there, and then memories of the previous night filtered in and she groaned, rubbing her gritty eyes with one free hand. The other was currently trapped under Soul.

Last night, they had ended up staying up late; playing a video game together that Soul had insisted she play with him. It turned out to be quite fun actually, though Maka wasn't exactly known for playing video games, and she decided to try being a little less judgmental of the hobby. Privately, she'd always considered them inferior.

They had played late into the night and ended up falling asleep together on the couch, which explained why they woke up all tangled together.

"Soul. Hey. Wake up. My arm's asleep and you're heavy." She groaned, shoving at him. It was strange, but somehow she was lying half on top of him while he was also lying half on top of her.

He grunted, and with some more prompting he finally woke up and rolled off her arm. "Sorry."

After awkwardly untangling themselves, Maka suddenly realized what time it was, and that they were going to be late if they didn't get their butts into gear right now. Even worse, they were expected to report to Lord Death first thing today for a new mission.

Instantly she woke Soul up fully by practically kicking him off the couch, and she then ran around trying to find a clean outfit. Unfortunately, she'd also forgotten to do her last load of laundry yesterday, and so she was left having to wear a wrinkly shirt. Soul just kept wearing the shirt he'd slept in, but did change into a pair of jeans that had been on his floor and threw on his jacket, which had somehow been trapped under them on the couch. Neither of them really had time to do their hair properly. However, they did manage to brush their teeth by doing so simultaneously at the sink and then both grabbed pieces of bread to eat on the go.

Thanks to their swift departure, they weren't too late in getting to the Death Room for their orders, however they did arrive out of breath and thoroughly bedraggled. They were met by the startled faces of Black Star and Tsubaki, who apparently were also on this mission, but of course the assassin's face instantly switched over to amusement.

"Hahahaha! Have a ' _rough night_ ' did you?" He asked in between fits of laughter.

Maka just glared at him, but naturally that didn't dissuade him in the slightest.

"Did you guys finally go at it?"

"Shut up, Dumbass. We got caught up playing a video game late last night." Soul growled, seriously cranky with the unfortunate circumstances. His anti-morning personality was in full effect.

" _Suuuure_ you did."

"Black Star!" Tsubaki admonished, giving him a gentle bop over the head.

"Welcome, Welcome!" Lord Death chirped happily, apparently deciding to ignore the current conversation.

Thankfully at that point all discussion turned to that of their upcoming assignment and they all received their directions. They were to go to Yellowstone where a kishin egg had been mistaken for a yeti/bigfoot. Apparently, it was very big and hairy and had grown a taste for campers. Most kishin eggs didn't actually eat their prey, just their prey's soul, but this guy had supposedly started out as a cannibal woodsman before becoming a kishin egg.

So, they all hustled out of the Death Room to get ready for their mission. Of course, as soon as they were out of Lord Death's earshot Black Star resumed his jokes.

Ignoring his jibes, Soul and Maka parted ways with them to pack, and then they all met back up at the airport. The trip there was unpleasant, since Black Star simply couldn't shut up…at least not until Maka threw some Chops his way, and then finally they all had blessed silence. Maka just wasn't ready to tell their friends that she and Soul were together now, and her partner didn't really seem to care either way.

The trip went quickly, and soon they found themselves in a rental car driving down the woodsy road past the park sign, heading to the visitor's center.

Once in Yellowstone, Maka instantly headed for the visitor's center for two reasons. They needed to get passes for camping, and they also needed information. Of course, Black Star just wanted to go off half-cocked and run into the woods with a war yell, but thankfully Tsubaki was somehow able to corral him. How she could manage him, Maka would never understand.

"Excuse me, I'd like park passes and camping passes for four people please." Maka requested of the young woman behind the counter, who smiled back and quickly produced the slips of paper.

"Alright, that will be a total of 80 dollars."

"What?! Lady! We're here to save the world! Why would we need to-" Tsubaki quickly muffled Black Star's outburst and smiled kindly at the befuddled woman.

"Please excuse my friend here. He's a bit hyperactive sometimes."

"What he meant to say was that we are here on official DWMA business." Maka clarified, showing the woman her badge.

"Oh. Well in that case you get a fifty percent discount, which brings your total to forty dollars." She amended easily, and they each forked over a ten.

"Also, would you mind telling me about these reported murders? A map would be nice too if you have one."

"Of course." She grabbed a map out from under the counter and spread it out on the flat surface. "The incidents have occurred in this general area…" She circled a large patch of several hundred acres with a red pen. "The last one was here." She made a dot.

Then she looked up and eyed them all seriously. "We've found a total of fifty hikers dead in the past six months, and they were definitely not killed by a wild animal. Whatever did this was huge, and extremely strong. Dangerous."

Maka nodded. "Thank you, Ma'am. No need to worry, we'll have this problem taken care of in a couple of days."

So saying, they strode out of the visitor's center and consulted the map.

"We're here at the visitor's center." Tsubaki pointed out, and they all nodded.

"It looks like the quickest route to get to the kishin is this trail here…Mountain Goat Ridge. It'll take us straight into the park." Maka noted, following the skinny line with her pinky finger.

"Guess we better get going, it's a long ways in." Black Star said happily and they headed to the trailhead.

Once in the forest and out of the general public area, both weapons transformed for speed. The spot of the last murder was deep into the park, many miles in, and to get there today would mean they'd have to go at top speed.

Black Star had Tsubaki transform into her most portable weapon form, a short black dagger, and he tucked her into his waistband before taking off on foot. To keep up with him, Maka mounted Soul in his flying form and they took to the air, zooming along above Black Star. She periodically called down to warn him whenever they saw hikers further up the trail that he would need to avoid plowing into the ground. Traveling in such a manner allowed them to make it far into the park, though it was already getting to be twilight by the time they finally reached the supposed territory of this thing. Touching down to give Soul a little breather, they convened at a rest point.

Opening up her map, Maka looked for a place where they could camp for the night.

"It looks like there's a designated camping site just ahead. We can bunk there for the night and hunt for him in the morning. I don't think we'll be able to pick up any tracks in the dark."

"I'm all for that." Soul said, sounding a bit worse for wear. This had been their longest flight to date, and it had been performed with a heavy camping backpack to boot.

"Yahoooo! S'mores and Hot dogs, baby!" Black Star yelled, and Soul instantly perked up.

"Hell yeah! Let's go roast some wieners!"

Rolling their eyes at the hungry boys, Tsubaki and Maka shared a look and took the lead, finding the camp site quickly since it was very close. There were fire pits and nice flat camping grounds, and located nearby was an outhouse shack type of thing.

They quickly pitched camp and lit a fire, everyone enjoying s'mores and hot dogs before tucking in for the night in their individual tents. Maka's was tiny, barely even big enough for her, while Soul's was much bigger… an easy pop up thing that barely required any pitching at all.

When asked, he just shrugged and said, "I brought it along with me when I moved out. My folks didn't do a whole lot of outdoors stuff, but every so often there were these ' _rugged musician convention things'_ and they'd have to go camping. So, we had these fancy-ass tents. I took mine just in case I'd ever need it. Good thing I did."

Maka just shook her head disbelievingly. "Must've been nice to be rich."

He grimaced. "I guess…"

The grimace didn't go away very quickly as his mind obviously sunk down into thoughts of his childhood. So, to distract him, Maka stepped closer and kneeled in front of him where he was slouched on the ground in front of his tent. She reached out and placed a hand on his cheek before playfully poking her thumb into the space where his lips had curled up in distaste, which instantly unstuck from their grimace.

"Wha?" He mumbled around her thumb.

"Just wanted to get you to stop grimacing. If you're not careful, your mouth could get stuck in that position."

He responded by trapping her thumb with his pointy teeth.

"What are you? A piranha? Get your shark teeth off my poor thumb!" She protested, wiggling the appendage in his mouth behind his teeth. Her tone was obviously joking though, and she was laughing as she said it.

He just grinned and chewed on her a little, very lightly.

"Idiot. Am I a chew toy now?"

He snickered and finally released her. "Yep. _**My**_ personal chew toy." He repeated with an important clarification, and his red eyes traveled down to her neck and shoulders, where his mouth and those sharp teeth of his liked to spend so much time.

"Joy."

The sardonic quality of her voice was counteracted by the shiver that went down her spine and slight blush painting her cheeks.

Clearing her throat, she stood, brushing off her pants – which she wore today because of the flying. "Well, anyways. It's getting late and we'd better get some sleep. So…Goodnight Soul."

"I don't get a goodnight kiss?"

She stalled, surprised that he was okay with PDA. They'd never kissed outside their apartment before. Of course Black Star and Tsubaki weren't in visual range that she could tell, so it should be fine.

"Uh, you want one?"

"Well yeah, obviously. It's not cool to let your girlfriend go off without one."

Rolling her eyes at him, she squatted back down in front of him. "All right 'mister cool guy.' Here's your goodnight kiss then."

She leaned in and pressed her lips against his, still not quite over the novelty of it yet – even a month or so later. Being able to just lean in and kiss him whenever she felt like was still amazing to her.

His white bangs brushed her forehead and nose and the warmth of his breath painted her lips. The kiss was gentle and brief, since she was a little unsure about doing this outside of the safety of their personal space. She pulled back after a warm moment and he took the opportunity to suck in the tiny bit of drool that had suddenly made an appearance.

After a second of contemplation, her mouth brushed his again for another soft kiss, and then an amusing idea popped into her head. Acting on it, she swiftly bared her teeth and nipped his lower lip to pay him back for biting her thumb. He made a very odd little sound of surprise and she pulled back before he could retaliate. With the swift retreat, she managed to get a good look at his wide-eyed shocked expression.

Laughing, she said, "And that's what you get for saying I'm your chew toy. The road goes both ways buddy. Now, Goodnight."

He was left gaping at her as she walked the few steps it took to get to her tent and then crawled in.

She didn't sleep well. Sleeping on the ground was never something she was particularly good at, even with a sleeping bag. So, she woke up grouchy and in a relatively foul mood the next morning.

Getting out of her tent, she found that both Tsubaki and Black Star had woken up and were already munching on packaged breakfast foods…. Black Star doing most of the munching unsurprisingly. Naturally Soul wasn't up yet, so - leaving Black Star to his enthusiastic breakfasting - she went next door and entered Soul's tent. Sure enough, he was sprawled out on his sleeping bag sound asleep, snoring and drooling away.

"Soul. Time to wake up."

All she got was a grunt.

"Soul!"

With a snort he woke, "Wha-?"

"Time to get up." She repeated.

He groaned and sat, blinking blearily up at her. "It's not even light out…"

"The sun is coming up now."

With a loud sigh he flopped over and lay back down. "Alright, alright. I'll be up in a minute."

"Okay, but if you aren't I'm sending in Black Star."

He snorted and Maka joined the others outside, eating her own set of pop tarts and a granola bar.

It wasn't long before Black star turned to her with a cocked brow and a shit eating grin. "Soooooo, how long have you and Soul been swapping spit?"

Speaking of spit, at the unexpected question Maka spewed the entire contents of her mouth down the slight hill they were parked on. Then she turned and gave him a shocked and slightly offended expression. "Excuse me?!"

He ignored his weapon as Tsubaki did her best to shush him, turning lightly pink and yanking on his shoulder. "Black Star! We talked about this!"

"Oh shut up, you know I'm not gonna let this slide Tsubaki!" He jostled her back while laughing boisterously and she scowled.

Somewhat stupidly, he turned back to Maka. "Come on! Tell us! I know I saw you guys macking on each other last night before bed."

This was quickly going from irritating to downright exasperating, and Maka decided it was probably just best to tell them. Knowing Black Star, if he didn't get his answers he's pester them insistently until he did, and likely embarrass them loudly while doing so. Here at least, they didn't have an audience for his loud outbursts.

"Okay, okay. Fine. We've been together for a couple of months now I guess. There. You happy? Now drop it."

He crowed loudly. "I knew it! See! Didn't I tell ya Tsubaki! I knew they were acting all weird! So have ya done it yet?"

At that, both girls scowled. He really should have seen it coming when both responded appropriately to the rude question. Tsubaki smacked him – hard – on the back of the head, while Maka chopped him from the front.

When he came to – with a nest of goose eggs crowning his skull – he thankfully dropped the topic for the time being, especially when Tsubaki gave him a pointed and dangerous look. And so they continued eating their breakfast in peace, with the two girls doing most of the talking for once. They continued on in this vein for about twenty minutes.

At around the thirty-minute mark, Maka suddenly realized that Soul had yet to make an appearance and scowled towards his tent in mild aggravation. With a sigh, she prepared to stand and go drag him out by his toenails, but an abrupt and amusing thought came to mind, and she settled back into the grass with a smirk trying to make an appearance. Black Star had caused enough irritation this morning that she felt he needed to be put to use somehow, and she _had_ warned Soul….

When after about twenty minutes, Soul still hadn't made an appearance, Maka decided it was time to try something new.

With a loud sigh, she complained, "You know, Soul's absolutely impossible in the mornings. Sometimes I think it would take a god to wake that guy up in shorter than five minutes."

Expectedly, Black Star instantly latched onto the challenge, even more so perhaps since he had been sulking for so long. "Well you're in luck! Because you have a god right here!" And with a war cry of "Yahoooo!" he dove straight into Soul's tent.

Grinning evilly, Maka waited to see the results and Tsubaki laughed when she noticed her expression.

"That was clever. And a little evil."

"I just want to see what happens…" Maka snickered, waiting for the inevitable explosion.

There was no wait at all. As soon as he disappeared inside the tent, there was an instant racket and the structure started bouncing around as Black Star took an apparently aggressive approach to rousing him.

"WAKE UP! YOUR GOD DEMANDS IT!"

"GO FUCK YOURSELF!" Soul bellowed right back.

"I already did!" Black Star responded, slightly less loudly, but with enough volume that the entire campsite was probably let in on their friend's cheerful admission. The cackle afterwards was certainly loud enough to wake the dead.

There was a pause and then Soul groaned, "Ew! _Dude_! Not cool! TMI!"

At the same time both girls outside winced.

After some more fighting and arguing, Black Star emerged victorious and Soul showed up a few moments later fully dressed and looking thoroughly pissed. He shot Maka a dirty look and she just shrugged in an, _'I warned you,'_ kind of way.

After that exciting start to the morning, they all packed up their tents and headed off. Their first target was to go to the location of the last murder and then hunt around in the area for tracks or any hint of where the kishin may have gotten off to. The latest murder was two weeks past, so he could have gone anywhere, but it was as good a place to start as any.

Once in the general vicinity, they spread out and started searching. Thankfully they had brought walkie-talkies, so they could stay in contact with each other, and Maka kept tabs on everyone with her soul perception. She had a pretty broad range now, so they could spread out to about a mile in distance from each other.

It took a while, but after several hours of hunting and traveling a rather hefty distance, Tsubaki suddenly radioed in.

"Um. I think you guys are going to want to see this…"

She sounded really disturbed, so they all headed in her direction. Maka guided everyone to her by using the walkie-talkies.

"Soul, angle to the left a little…yeah now just stay strait."

"Black Star go right, no your other right. Perfect, now just- wait too much! Angle left. Good…. No, you're veering off again. Left, no, right…a little back to the left, good! Now just…"

Soul was easy to guide, but Black Star was like trying to guide a tornado. He carved a zigzag the whole way to Tsubaki.

Eventually though, they all got to their ninja weapon comrade.

Maka instantly knew what had her so upset. Hanging by one hind paw lodged in the tight fork of a branch was a massive grizzly… or at least part of one. It was very, very dead. Torn apart in fact. Whatever killed it was not natural, that much was blatantly clear. It had literally been ripped to pieces, in a manner that was nearly indescribable. They all just stood and stared at it, matching expressions of horror on their faces. Blood and guts were everywhere, and there was a good deal of the carcass missing, as if it had been eaten. In fact, it was pretty clear that it had been gnawed on. Whether that was done by the thing that killed it or by scavenger animals after the fact, they didn't know.

There were several reasons why this was disturbing.

One, it was simply a very disturbing scene to come across under any circumstance.

Second, if this was indeed the kishin's doing, then that was highly unusual. Kishin eggs didn't normally go for animal souls, so they usually didn't kill animals, although it wasn't unheard of for them to start with animals. But for such an advanced kishin to be killing animals was odd.

And thirdly, kishins didn't normally eat their prey aside from consuming their souls. So, it was pretty clear that this was an odd one. Not to mention strong, judging by how this grizzly had been so easily ripped apart.

"Well…maybe there will be tracks or something…it still looks pretty fresh." Maka offered, trying not to get too emotional or throw up in front of the gruesome scene. She'd seen plenty of gore, but this was a bit much even for her.

"Uh, yeah…" Soul replied back with a grimace.

The four of them started scouting the area, and eventually came up with some very faint tracks. Whatever they were following was definitely big, or at least the feet were.

"Looks like we really are gonna bag us a Bigfoot." Black Star hooted.

"Yeah. This thing's got some big feet for sure." Soul drawled, running one hand through his hair absentmindedly.

Setting off, they tried to follow the tracks. In some places it was easy enough, but in others it got really hard. They hunted for the rest of the day, but didn't turn it up before nightfall. As the sun began to set, they pitched camp.

Tonight was significantly more subdued – aside from Black Star who didn't know the meaning of the word.

Maka in particular had a really bad feeling. She couldn't sense the thing's soul within the radius of her soul perception, so it wasn't close, but it still somehow felt like it was watching them. Just to be safe, instead of sleeping in separate tents, Maka advocated for partners to share a tent in case there was an attack. Soul agreed easily as did Tsubaki. Even Black Star agreed – though first he loudly proclaimed that there was no need, since he'd be able to take the thing out all by himself. Of course the idiot also made a joke about Maka and Soul just wanting to bone, but that had been quieted almost instantly by a Maka Chop. Soul just snarled at him – already used to the jokes since Black star had been sneaking them in whenever he could.

Ignoring the groaning Assassin, Maka dragged her sleeping bag into Soul's more spacious tent, because like heck they'd both fit in hers. There was barely enough room for just her in there.

Settling her bag on the ground, she crouched her way back over to the flap and poked her head back out to say goodnight to Tsubaki, who she could see was also dragging her sleeping bag into Black Star's tent. He had already disappeared inside clutching his dented head. The black-haired ninja sword waved back with a somewhat apologetic smile and disappeared inside her meister's tent.

Pulling her head back in, Maka zipped up the flap, feeling rather uneasy with the flimsy material of their sleeping structure. It wouldn't do much to keep out a kishin, that was for sure. It wasn't like she was scared of the thing, not while she was awake at any rate. But she _was_ nervous about sleeping in its turf.

However, they would all need a good night's rest if they were going to find it tomorrow, and trekking through the woods had been exhausting. Sleep was necessary.

She scooted back to her sleeping bag, tucking herself in but not zipping it up. If they were attacked, she didn't want to be caught in a cocoon and have her mobility restricted.

"Hey, you okay? You've been acting super tense ever since we pitched camp."

It figured that Soul would notice. She flipped onto her side to face him and propped herself up on an arm and elbow. "Yeah, just…I don't really like sleeping in this thing's territory. It feels like a really bad idea."

He nodded and propped himself up in the same manner.

"I hear ya." Then a shark toothed grin spread his lips. "But don't worry, if he pulls a dick move and tries to get us while we're asleep, he'll be in big trouble."

She couldn't resist grinning back, feeling herself relax just a smidge. "You're right. Thanks Soul."

"It's what I'm here for. Protection, comfort, and being cool all fall under the job of being your weapon."

"Well, you have all the qualities required then."

He just grinned more broadly.

They both lay down again, on their backs side by side, staring up at the tent ceiling.

After a while, a thought occurred to Maka and she grinned. "Hey Soul? Do goodnight kisses fall under a weapon's job description too?"

He snorted, and she felt him shift in the sleeping bag next to hers. There were some rustles and then his head suddenly appeared over hers as he sat up a little and leaned over her.

"Oh yeah, absolutely." He replied with a mock serious expression and then dipped down to give her a light kiss.

Her breath caught in her throat, not entirely prepared for the swift response. The pulse suddenly resounded in her chest and ears as it had taken to doing when he touched her, and she had to remind herself to breathe as his lips gently pressed into her own. She met him with the same pressure.

It was warm, soft despite their chapped lips, and sweet. When he started to pull back she reached up to tangle her fingers into his hair and drag him back down into the kiss. Obviously, they couldn't get too into it, given their dangerous position, but she still wasn't quite satisfied yet. His grin curved against her lips and there was no resistance from him as she pulled him back to her. Both were happy to deepen the kiss.

Tongues came out to play, and Maka sighed into the kiss.

After getting over her initial reservation, she'd quickly discovered that she very much enjoyed french-kissing with Soul… he could do all kinds of fun things with that crazy tongue of his.

Although, the very first time he had french-kissed her, with his tongue in her mouth, it had been a bit overwhelming. As she should have expected, his had a much greater reach than hers, so he was able to do more exploring than she had. In fact, she'd needed to pull back some when he threatened to go too deep and choke her. He got the message thankfully and they quickly figured out where the limit was before she gagged. It had felt odd at first and a little gross, especially with the abnormal length. However, to her surprise he had found a few sensitive spots in her mouth that actually felt kind of nice to be stroked…. and she doubted they could be reached with a normal tongue.

Since then, he had found even more ways that she liked to be kissed, and he delighted in exploring and perfecting all of them…which wasn't at all surprising given his oral fixation.

As they progressed in their physical relationship and he grew comfortable with her boundaries, he'd grown more and more confidant and excitable. He was still incredibly gentle and very considerate, but in certain activities – especially anything to do with his mouth like kissing or biting – he could easily get carried away. There was no lack of enthusiasm as long as he had the green light from her… and he knew that – against all odds – she had grown to love his kisses, so that was home base for them.

And tonight he was just as eager in his kisses as always.

She certainly wasn't complaining.

There had to be something sinful in the way his tongue twined with hers, and she quickly found herself melting into the kiss, though she kept herself firmly aware of their surroundings. With a regretful sigh, she finally relaxed her grip on his hair and he took the cue. With a groan of his own that spoke of not wanting to stop, he pulled away.

After that, he settled back down on his sleeping bag and they both drifted off to sleep.

It was a good thing they ended up sleeping together, because only a few hours after finally managing to sink into sleep, Maka jerked back awake. At first, she wasn't sure what had woken her, but it quickly became clear to her that the immense feeling of wrongness and evil that pervaded her soul perception senses had pulled her from sleep.

There was a dark soul, right next to their tent, and she gasped and sat up ram-rod straight. At the same moment, something grabbed the cloth of the tent and ripped through. The attack came from her side, and the kishin was through the flimsy material in a matter of seconds. He didn't even pause. As soon as he was through, he was going for her. Massive ham-hands were a hairsbreadth from her face before she even had time to breathe, much less move.

That turned out to be a bad mistake on his part though. Before he ever had a chance to so much as scratch her, several long scythe blades suddenly shot out, curving protectively over her body and pushing her down. The cool metal didn't cut her of course, it just slid along her skin and forced her back to the sleeping bag, which resulted in her dodging the hit that would have collided with her nose otherwise. The other result was that the kishin's hands and forearms ran into the sharp side of Soul's blades instead of her flesh, and he recoiled with a howl.

"Don't you know it's not cool to attack someone when they're sleeping?" Soul drawled from behind her. Then his voice tightened with anger as he added, "Besides that, you picked the wrong tent. 'Cause no one touches my meister."

Maka reached her hand back and it met with cold steel as Soul's handle fit into her palm.

She rolled out of the way of the kishin egg's next blow and sprung to her feet using Soul's pole, then continued the momentum into a pole jump…right into the chest of their opponent. Her bare heels landed a solid kick and they all toppled out of the tent. The kishin egg landed on his back under her feet, but had exceptionally grabby hands. His snarly ragged nails bit deep into her when his fingers snagged her thigh and dug in, doing his best to yank her onto her knees. At the same time, his mouth gaped open, ready to take a chunk of her flesh.

Not having any of that, she spun Soul and slammed the top of his blade down like a guillotine on the thing's neck, while simultaneously using his hilt to flip off their opponent. Soul could sharpen any part of his blade, and if he had connected the guy would have died by decapitation. Unfortunately though, their opponent managed to roll out of the way at the last second. At the very least he sustained a deep cut along his face.

"Black Star! Tsubaki! He's here!" Maka screeched once she finally had enough space to think without danger of being bitten, clawed, or grabbed.

There was a ruckus in the other tent and her comrades emerged moments later in various states of sleep, undress, and rumpledness. They snapped to attention though as they took in the sight of the kishin egg in their campsite.

Maka didn't have time to focus on them; she was a bit preoccupied fending off the thing once again. He was massive, enormously strong, and really did look like a big foot – crossed with the wolf-man since he was wearing tattered remnants of woodsman clothes over his gigantic, hairy body. Along with his ugly appearance was an equally ugly personality, and he seemed to be throwing a temper tantrum about her fighting back.

"This isn't right! You're supposed to scream and run! Damnit woman!" He roared, spittle flying from jagged sharp yellow teeth.

"Sorry, Big Guy, but you picked a fight with the wrong woman." She spat back.

His ham fists rained down on her, but she blocked them with Soul's hilt and then rotated him sharply so that his long curved blade faced out towards the enemy, which forced their opponent to be a bit more careful as he sustained more cuts to his forearms. What she didn't expect was for a huge hairy foot to swing up, faster than she had thought he could move, and he landed a fearsome kick which Maka couldn't entirely dodge. She was sent flying, and landed smack dab in a disgustingly thorny bush.

For a second she lay still, shocked by the feel of the thorns digging into her, and then she screeched in fury. "For god's sake! What the hell is this!?"

Thankfully Black Star had taken her place fighting the thing, so she had a short reprieve to try and escape the death bush. It was unfortunate that she was wearing her thin pajamas…. the flimsy material did very little to protect her skin from wicked barbs.

"Damnit all!" She cussed, thrashing to try and free herself, but that proved to be a very bad idea as she quickly accumulated a host of cuts.

"Maka! Stop doing that! You're only making it worse!" Soul admonished sharply.

"I know! Trust me I know!"

"Well what are you waiting for? We gotta resonate and I'll fly us outta here."

"Good idea."

They instantly followed suite and soon she was being dragged up into the air and managed to hook a bloody thigh over him as well. Hanging upside down like a monkey, she looked back at the battle with a fierce scowl.

As soon as they were high enough and free of the trees, she unhooked her leg and then did a little flip to get up on Soul properly. Standing on his pole with perfect balance, she brushed herself off and then glared down at their enemy, furious at him for tossing her into such a nasty bush. It was downright rude. They circled a little higher to gain some serious leverage, and then her foot slammed down on Soul's hilt and pointed him practically straight down at the enemy. They screeched down on top of the kishin egg like a bird of prey and pile-drove into him at an insane speed. The butt of Soul's hilt rammed right into his back and stomped him into the ground hard enough to leave a crater.

Black Star hadn't ever seen them fight while flying. So, he was somewhat taken by surprise as well and had to leap out of the way or else he would have been caught up in it too.

As for Maka, she snagged Soul right under his blade to keep herself from following the downward momentum into the ground, and nearly yanked her arm out of the socket, but still managed a neat flip off. Soul's scythe flashed through the air as she rotated around him and landed on her feet and then went onto one knee, breathing hard. She laid his hilt across her shoulders, poised to snap forwards.

"Hey! What're you trying to do?! Kill us too!?" Black Star yelled from the other side of the dust cloud.

"Oh, I'm sorry… I was under the impression you could handle it." Maka yelled back, still pissed.

"Damn! You're in a bad mood! What happened? Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?" Came back, and then he grunted as the kishin landed a blow.

This guy was strong. He was close to actually turning into a kishin and was a much tougher opponent than either of them had expected. Maybe it was because he'd been a cannibal to start with, who knew. But whatever the case, they were going to have to step up their game. The dust began to settle and Maka could get a clear view of the bloody and bedraggled woodsman trading blows with Black Star. It made sense now why Lord Death had sent them both.

In response to Black Star's previous jab, she yelled back, "I'd say any side of the bed that has _that_ guy on it is a bad one. You try waking up to his ugly mug and see how you feel."

Black Star got knocked into the woods right about the same time, and from his yowl it sounded like he'd landed in a thorny bush as well. Maybe they shouldn't have camped in such a thorny area.

Maka took over and engaged the enemy. This time she tried dropping low and attempted to first knock his feet out from beneath him with a sweeping kick and then swung Soul in its wake to try and cut them off. Neither tactic worked; he dodged both. And then he tried to cave her skull in with a two-fisted blow. She dodged and rolled to her feet. As he came at her again, she rotated Soul around her neck and then whipped him over her shoulder and down across her back so that his long blade suddenly protruded from under her arm right as the guy was on top of her.

This time she got him in the gut. But as soon as Soul penetrated him, the kishin egg knocked Maka back with a fist to her stomach, and she flew back. Since she and Soul were resonating, he was able to pop a pair of wings and snag her midair so she didn't land in the bushes again.

Black Star had just managed to free himself from the bushes and stomped forwards to pound the guy into the ground with a stern fist. As soon as Maka's breath returned, she swooped down and flipped off Soul, bringing him down like an ax on top of the enemy as well.

He managed to roll out of the way and staggered to his feet. Then he began to sputter with laughter and both meisters paused, giving him a weird look.

Blood was dripping from his mouth and he didn't bother to wipe it as he laughed; so it sprayed outwards in a disgusting shower of red. "You can't stop it! All evil is coming out now! Soon it will be eternal night and _**insanity**_ will take over. We'll all dance in the light of the moon and the rest of you will _**die**_!"

"Uh…"

"Okay…"

"Was it you or me who knocked him silly?" Black Star muttered under his breath, grimacing.

"Pretty sure he was insane to begin with." Maka muttered back in the same tone of voice.

"True."

The two meisters shrugged and attacked together this time. There was no way he could hold up under the combined assault, and finally he poofed into nonexistence while his soul floated free.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Alrighty, and we're back to a little action adventure time! I hope everyone enjoyed it. ;) We're starting to hone in on the grand finale - although we've still got about 7 or so chapters left, so don't get too sad yet!

Also, I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday (if you celebrate that) yesterday! Crazy how those two overlapped right?

Anywho, as always, a huge thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! You guys are all absolutely amazing and keep me wanting to write!


	25. Chapter 25

After defeating him, all that was left to do was leave; so they packed everything up and got ready to head out. The weapons did most of the work though, because Maka was aching and Black Star was hungry. Soul grumbled of course, but not as much as he normally would have… probably because she looked like she'd been used as a scratching post.

Once packed and ready to go, they set off back towards the entrance to the park. Black Star ran along the ground despite his injuries… but of course he was a supernatural being that could probably brush off being run over by a truck. Maka, on the other hand, was very grateful that she got to ride Soul, because she was very sore. She was happy that she'd invested in a lovely pair of padded bike shorts that softened the blow of Soul's handle resting in between her legs, because – unlike on the way up – she didn't really feel like standing and balancing the whole way. So, she rode him witch-style.

In fact, after a while she even laid her top half down along his length – which wasn't super comfortable on her bruised torso, but at least let her rest a little.

"How you hangin' in there, Maka?"

"I'm fine." She groaned back. "Just tired and sore, but nothing to worry about. I'll be happy to get a hot shower though, let me tell you."

"Well it'll just be a little longer. I vote that we spend the night at the cabins they offer here so we can bandage you up properly and you can get some rest. You really should've done a better job treating your wounds."

"Yeah I know. But I just really wanted to get going."

Soul just sighed and continued to zip along through the air, picking up the pace a little.

It was another hour before they finally reached the visitor's center where they had first checked in.

"Oh, my goodness! Are you all right?" The lady at the front – Cindy, according to her name badge –exclaimed upon seeing their dirty, beaten up appearances.

"Yeah, we're fine." Maka sighed.

She was almost cut off by Black Star announcing loudly, "That kishin won't be bothering you any longer!"

"That's wonderful news!"

"Do you have any cabins available tonight?" Soul intercepted the conversation, his mind obviously going down one track.

"Of course! You can have two on the house as thanks for your hard work."

"That's wonderful! Thank you!" Tsubaki said gratefully and gave the lady behind the desk a little bow.

She quickly gave them their keys, and the four of them headed back out the door. Once outside the visitor's center, they headed directly for the cabins. Soul and Maka's turned up first, and so they parted ways with Tsubaki and Black Star – who was already loudly saying that he wanted to go check out the nearby restaurant Cindy had told them about.

Neither Soul or Maka were attracted by said restaurant, they had plenty of snacks left and were more interested in getting some bandages and rest.

Once inside their cabin, Maka tossed her bag onto the floor and then flopped onto the large king-sized bed in the center of the room. It looked like she and Soul were going to have to share, but she didn't even mind in the slightest. Mostly she was just happy to be on a bed.

She could hear Soul rummaging around in the bags and grumbling to himself under his breath. After a bit he spoke up, saying, "I'm gonna run down to the office and see if they have a first aid kit I could borrow. Ours is running a little low on supplies."

"Okay. I'll go take a shower while you do that then."

"Cool. Be back in a sec."

Then the sound of the door shutting resounded through the room. Sighing, she mustered up enough strength to push herself up on the bed. She turned around and poked through her bag to find her toiletries and something she could sleep in and then made her way into the bathroom. The hot water of the shower felt amazing, though it stung her cuts from the damned thorny bush she'd tangoed with earlier and really burned the gash in her thigh. The soap stung worse though, and she sucked in her breath and held it for a moment before giving in and cussing.

She was going for a record of stringing 'shit's together, when she heard the muffled sound of the cabin door shut behind Soul, who had apparently just come back.

He must have heard her because he called out, "Yo. You okay in there? That's a whole lot of cussing."

"Yep. Just fine."

There was a pause. "So then, did you just randomly decide 'shit' is your favorite word?"

"Currently? Yeah. Along with fuck, crap, dammit, and ow."

"Sounds like a fun time." He replied with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

"Oh yeah, it's just wonderful."

"What hurts so bad?"

"Remember that thorny bush I fell in? It got me worse than I thought it had. And that gash on my thigh where the kishin egg tried to rip me a new one isn't too fun either."

There was a pause and she could easily picture him wincing. "Oh. Ow."

"Yeah."

She heard him busy himself with whatever he brought back from the office, and hurried to finish up her shower so he could help patch her up. Making sure to get the soap out of her cuts, she rinsed off an extra time and then stepped out. She grabbed a towel and patted herself dry carefully, then dressed in her improvised pajamas and brushed her teeth too. It was better to go ahead and get ready for bed now, since she was probably just going to pass out once Soul was done applying band-aides.

As soon as she stepped out of the bathroom and Soul got a good look at her, he hissed and made a very sour face, like he'd just sucked on a lemon. Her makeshift pajamas consisted of a spaghetti strap tank top that she normally wore under her white button-down shirts and a pair of Soul's boxers… which meant he had a great view of all her scratches. It had still been dark when she'd changed into her long-sleeved shirt and thigh-high stockings, so neither of them had seen the full damage.

"Alright, get over here and let's see if I can put you back together."

"Yes, Nurse." Maka replied, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, why don't I get to be a doctor?" Soul asked, making a face.

"Do you need to be a doctor to apply first aide?"

He pursed his lips in an almost-pout. "Well no, but a doctor is cooler than a nurse."

Maka just shook her head and walked over to park her butt on the bed. "Not really. Nurses have to do a lot of the really hard work."

"Well whatever, just stay put."

He was already rubbing ointment onto the cuts on her shoulders. It wasn't long before he was also tugging out a few thorns that she'd missed and were still splintered into her skin.

After a while, he softly whispered something, so quietly that she couldn't even make it out.

"Huh?" She asked and turned her head towards him over her shoulder.

"I…I just said 'sorry.' That's all." He mumbled, sounding perturbed. His red eyes remained stuck on her cuts and absolutely refused to meet hers over her shoulder.

"Sorry? For what?"

"For not being able to protect you better."

Turning fully, she fixed him with a stern look. "You did protect me. These are just little scratches and a few bruises. Besides, did you forget who's who? I'm the meister; I'm used to this sort of thing."

"Yeah. I know. Doesn't mean I like it though."

Alright, it was time to get to the bottom of this. Soul had been acting weird about her getting hurt on missions for weeks now, and it was going to have to stop.

Carefully she inquired, "What's wrong? It hasn't bothered you before."

"Of course it has! It's always bothered me, Maka. I hate seeing you get hurt. And then, at the end of the fight, you're exhausted and beaten up while I'm not. It's just been easier to accept before. It's harder now that we're in a relationship."

"Whether we're together romantically or not, the fact remains that I am the meister and you are the weapon in our partnership. I accepted everything that's entailed in my job description when I signed up for this. Honestly, I prefer it this way."

"Yeah. You'd rather get yourself hurt than see me get hurt right?"

And with that, suddenly she understood a little more of where he was coming from. The way he stared at her, it was obvious what he was saying. He felt the same way … he would rather get hurt than see her get hurt. Putting herself in his shoes, she knew she'd hate every minute of it. In fact, it was the same sort of thing she had gone through after seeing him almost get killed.

Since she could understand this particular emotion so well, she instantly knew it was dangerous. This was the first time it had come up since getting into a relationship, and she immediately knew she had to nip it in the butt right here or else it could end up being a big problem.

"Look. I get how you feel. I really do. But please try not to feel bad about it. It's not your fault if I get hurt. If you sink too far into that sort of thinking, it could really interfere with our ability to function as partners. You're just going to have to accept that this is the risk I run in my line of work."

After a long moment he finally swallowed thickly and nodded, shutting his red eyes on a deep inhale. "Yeah. You're right."

She turned back around and a few seconds later felt his finger return to her skin, gently smearing ointment onto her cuts. It was a soothing mixture Maka had found that wasn't nearly as toxic as the normal kind. Since she often ended up with little cuts and scrapes that she didn't want to wear bandages over, she picked up this ointment to soothe and work as an antibiotic. It was okay to accidentally get in your eyes or even in your food, unlike normal creams with harsh chemicals…. Which was why she didn't freak out when Soul gently pressed a kiss to her cut up shoulder. In fact, getting some of the cream on his lips might be good for them, since they were chapped.

As for Soul, he did indeed feel less guilty than before. However, he still hated seeing all the cuts peppering her skin and winced in sympathy.

Of course, this was hardly the first time she'd gotten hurt during a fight. Her body was covered in scars from top to bottom. Strangely, he'd never noticed them really, they were simply there…. but now that he was suddenly paying attention, he began to realize just how many she had. His fingers stalled out as he stared at all the scars layered over her skin, and he took a moment to just try and absorb the sheer amount and variety she sported. It took a good, long moment for him to wrap his head around it, and he almost felt like this was first fucking time he was truly seeing them.

Some of the most obvious – to him at least – were various sets of teethmarks, specifically his teethmarks. The one on the shoulder he was currently treating was from when he had bit her during the book of Eibon incident. He'd barely broken the skin really, so there was only a row of tiny pinpricks where the very tips of his teeth had dug in. Her other shoulder however, was much worse. That was from when he had lost control in Russia, and he'd really chomped down. It looked like an animal bite, with a very distinct dental impression in shiny dark pink skin. There were others like that as well, scattered here and there on her body from that same shit-storm, but the worst one was definitely on her shoulder.

There were lots of other scars though. Ones from blades, ones from teeth or claws, and ones from other, stranger things they had encountered. It was a pretty crazy assortment honestly, and he wasn't sure whether to be impressed or horrified by it.

After a long moment, he realized he was zoning out and immediately shook himself out of it, so he could continue to treat her wounds. As he applied her cream to the cuts, he paid attention to the old as well as the new, spending time to lightly touch some of them in passing. It wasn't like he was apologizing for them exactly, because he knew that would probably piss Maka off and send her into another lecture about how she was the meister and shit, so he did it more to honor them really. They all told a story of how she kicked ass, and he definitely respected each and every one.

Maka could tell when his touches changed. Along with applying ointment to her cuts, he also seemed to touch her in places that didn't hurt. It took her a long moment to realize he was touching her scars, and she felt a surge of warmth in her chest in appreciation for the sweet gesture. He didn't say anything further, just kept treating her wounds, but she could feel the tenderness in every stroke. It was nice, beyond nice really, and she felt warmth suffuse her body. Heat traveled from her chest and settled into her belly, where it sat and boiled.

Really though, now wasn't exactly the time to be getting excitable in any way. She was too cut up to do much of anything in her opinion, but she certainly wasn't going to complain the treatment she was getting.

Eventually he got to a point where he'd treated all the cuts he could get to, bandaging the worst and just rubbing ointment into the others. She thought he'd just leave it there, but then tensed a little in surprise when he tugged on the bottom of her tank top and pulled it up to look underneath.

"You've got cuts all under here too. Better take it off so I can get to them."

She pursed her lips and thought about it. "I don't think that's really necessary…"

He prodded something that made her yelp as it sent a little zing of pain through her. "You've got some thorns still stuck in your back too, probably cause it's where you first landed. I've gotta take them out at least or they could get infected."

"Right." Self-consciously she tugged the shirt over her head and then bundled it up over her breasts.

This was the first time she'd been topless in his presence…at least since they'd become a couple. It had happened once or twice in the past when he'd treated particularly nasty wounds on her back, but it hadn't been too awkward then. Now though… it was different.

She flushed and stared at the wall as he began pulling out thorns. Soon the pain eased her temporary awkwardness. She grumbled under her breath and cussed a little as he pulled the thorns out one by one and poked around to find more.

"How many are there anyways!? That seems like an awful lot…" She groused after a while.

"Well that's cause there **are** a lot. You landed in a fucking bramble bush, Maka."

"Feels more like I got attacked by a porcupine." She grumbled.

"That would probably hurt worse. Pretty sure porcupine quills are bigger than thorns."

"Whatever…"

Finally, he got the last one out and started smearing ointment on them. She relaxed, breathing out a sigh of relief. It had been unpleasant, but her back did feel better now that all the stickers were out. After a moment, she felt him press a gentle kiss to her back and she jumped, not expecting it.

"Sorry. I know that hurt like a bitch."

She flushed again, feeling bad for giving him such a hard time when he was just trying to help. "Nah, it didn't hurt too bad. I'm just tired and cranky."

"Gee, I wonder why?"

She snorted. "Oh, I dunno. It sure is a mystery. I mean fighting Big Foot was _soooo_ much fun."

"Right. And you always wake up in the middle of the night. Well actually you do tend to wake up obnoxiously early…"

"Not _that_ early. I wake up at six or seven, not three or four in the morning!"

"Big diff."

She heaved a sigh, chuckling under her breath.

This was such a weird and paradoxical experience for her. As usual, the sweetness he was displaying made her feel all warm and fuzzy like a fluffy warm balloon had expanded inside her chest. Then, his small touches and kisses surprised her, but also had started warming her in a different way…even though she wouldn't have thought herself capable of that at this particular moment. Meanwhile, contradicting all that was the pain of her wounds and her sheer exhaustion.

Eventually - to get to her lower back - she ended up laying down on her front and stretched out, sighing as she relaxed into the mattress and nearly fell asleep. She would have too, if it weren't for the tension wound tight in her belly and some new stings as he found a few more thorns he'd missed. Things were about to get awkward she knew, because she had a really bad feeling that there were thorns in her butt, based on the pain from sitting.

She felt his hands hover over the band of his boxers that she was wearing and then very carefully inched them down lower until they were right above her crack. He treated the cuts and thorns there and then hesitated again.

With a sigh and groan, she reached back, shoved a thumb in the waistband, and yanked the boxers and her underwear down to her thighs, leaving her butt bare. "Just get the damn thorns out."

"Uh…right."

She did her very best to not be self-conscious…. They were a couple now so this should be perfectly acceptable. It was still embarrassing though. Frankly he'd grabbed her butt before, but that had been over clothes, so it was definitely different.

Despite the little stings of pain, the feel of his fingers on her skin made her hyper aware of her rear, and it wasn't all necessarily bad. In fact, when he wasn't pulling out thorns and was just gently poking around to try and find them it was kind of nice, and she could feel her face flushing a little while her heart kicked up a beat. This really shouldn't be such a big deal, but she still breathed a sigh of relief when he popped her underwear and his boxers back into place and moved onto the backs of her thighs.

The way he was touching her thighs now wound the little ball of tension in her belly tighter. It was ticklish, painful, and also felt nice when he wasn't on the cuts as he stroked his fingers along her skin there. Again, it was a confusing mix and she wasn't sure what to do with it. So, she just ended up laying there with her brain messy and confused and not sure where to put anything or how to categorize the experience.

Once he'd gotten down the length of her legs, he tucked a hand under her knee and tugged to the side, indicating she should roll over. She obliged, though there was some awkward squirming and rearranging as she tucked the cloth of her tank top back over her breasts and clamped her arms over it. She knew her face was pink, but tried to pretend it wasn't and gave him a sour look instead. His lips quirked as he took in her uncomfortable expression, though his own face was rather pink as he took in the sight of her half naked - aside from the cloth clutched to her chest.

That look quickly changed though to a frown as he took in the sight of the larger gash on her thigh where that monster had grabbed her and ripped the skin. It looked pretty nasty she knew. He grabbed more supplies for it, and started the treatment with an alcohol swap. The burn got a hiss and some cusses from her, and he sent her an apologetic grin. Once the thing was clean, he swabbed it with the ointment, then finally slapped on a gauze square and taped it up.

After he had tended that, his eyes relocated to her top half, probably with the idea of taking on the thorns from the top down like he had in the back. As soon as his eyes landed on her half-naked state though, he flushed lightly again and pursed his lips. Clearing his throat, he picked up the ointment tube again and started looking her over for cuts and thorns. He had already mostly gotten her arms from behind, but he re-examined them to smear some ointment into the cuts he had missed.

Then he prodded around where her arms were crossed and found a few cuts on her stomach that he treated. She raised her arms up a little, while keeping them clamped tight to her breasts, and gathered the fabric tighter up under them to make it easier for him to get to the cuts. From there, he moved down her stomach to her hips and pushed up the legs of his boxers to check her upper thighs. Finally, it was just her legs that needed to be treated.

Really, she could have doctored her front herself, but she let him do it. It felt nice and she was tired.

The whole time he worked on her, he was very thorough and, like before, spent some extra time gently touching old scars as he passed by them, which she didn't protest. It was nice to have him touch her in places that didn't hurt, and it helped to sooth the stings from her cuts.

When he was finally done, he sighed and then leaned over to press a kiss beneath her belly button, right above the waistband of her shorts. That shocked her, and she sucked in her breath and tensed up. He flinched hard enough that he pulled back.

"Sorry. Too much?"

"No, it's fine. But if you're trying to initiate something, I don't know how much I'll be able to do."

He flushed a little. "You don't have to do anything. Just lie down and relax. But if you don't mind me kissing you and stuff for a bit…"

"Sure, as long as I don't have to move. I may fall asleep though."

"If I want to keep you awake I know how to, don't worry about that." He grinned, and her tummy tensed up a little, not sure exactly what to think about that statement.

She should have expected this.

After becoming a couple, she'd noticed that he was super touchy feely after a mission, especially if she got hurt. He'd want to hold her, and sometimes just cuddle – especially if she'd been hurt badly – but other times he would kiss and touch her other ways. It was like he was trying to make up for the pain by replacing it with pleasant stuff.

He leaned on one elbow to stretch out next to her on the bed, then leaned over to press another kiss to her belly, careful to avoid the cuts. His fingers trailed up her thigh, between the thorn marks, and she shivered. Another tremor worked through her when his lips started gently traveling upwards as well. When he reached her belly button he stuck his tongue in, and she yelped out a short laugh of surprise. She felt him grin against her. The exhaustion was pushed back a bit by the warmth building in her stomach, and she decided that maybe she was up for some stuff after all.

When he reached her arms, he skipped over them and her chest and went up to give her a kiss on the lips. She met him and kissed him back. It started out sweet and humid, gentle and tender, but quickly grew heated. Their tongues twined, and she wrapped one arm around his neck, leaving the other to hold her tank top in place.

After a bit, he pulled back and moved to her neck, which was free of scratches, and latched on.

"No hickeys Soul, I don't have a scarf to cover it up…" She groaned.

"Then I won't leave any where they could be seen." He promised, moving down to her collarbone instead, which was covered by her shirt usually. Sharp teeth nipped her there and she shivered, relaxing her arm a bit as he nuzzled his chin into the tank top over her chest.

He sucked on her skin and then moved lower, sucking on the skin on her chest. After a bit he pulled back some, and tugged at the shirt covering her chest. "Do you mind if…?"

She bit her lip. They'd been to second base before, but only over clothes. He'd never seen her breasts and hadn't ever touched them directly. Seeing them was a different ball game, and made her more concerned about their size.

She must have scowled or made a face, because he asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's just…they're pretty small…"

"So?"

"They probably won't be that interesting."

"That's dumb. Of course they'll be _interesting_."

Pursing her lips, she gave him a look. "Promise not to make fun of them?"

He grimaced. "Look, I was stupid and immature when I said all that shit about your boobs. Of course I'm not going to make fun of them. I've been groping them for weeks now. They're awesome."

She thought about it and decided she might as well. It was kind of scary exposing herself for the first time, but after touching soul to soul, this didn't seem as big a deal as it probably would have a year or so ago. She'd already used the metaphor of being naked in reference to resonating with each other. Plus, after taking things so slowly, she felt like she was ready to take this next step without having a freak-out. Besides that, it would happen sooner or later, and she doubted she was going to get any more comfortable with the idea than she was currently. So, there wasn't any reason really to postpone it.

"Okay. Fine."

Gingerly she removed the tank top and tossed it aside before resting her hands on her rib cage under her breasts and lacing her fingers together. She flushed when his eyes slid down and locked onto her chest, but thankfully he didn't seem to show any sign of being disappointed. If anything - judging by the way his pupils blew wide open and darkened his eyes from crimson to a deep wine color - he really liked what he saw. The little bit of drool that appeared on his lip was another sign, but it quickly disappeared with a, ' _sshhhp,_ ' sound.

"So? Are they too tiny?" She teased, already knowing the answer based on his expression, but not ready to let it go just yet. This was her chance to get him back for all those jokes, though she had already been doing that for a couple of weeks now.

"Uh…n-nope, not at all. They're perfect." He stuttered, blinking a bit dazedly.

After a moment he reached out and hesitated, "Can I touch?"

"Sure." She nodded, flushing a little, but overall relatively comfortable now. This wasn't as awkward as she'd thought it would be. Somehow getting thorns pulled out of her ass was much worse. That had been horrifyingly embarrassing for some reason.

He didn't waste any time and immediately put both hands on her, resting all his weight on his knees. He squeezed a little too hard and she winced. "Easy there. Remember, they aren't stress balls."

They'd had this conversation before, but it seemed like he'd gotten a little over excited.

"Oh. Right! Sorry!"

He instantly eased up on his grip, which was much nicer. The gentle squeezes were pleasant, and she relaxed into his touches. As soon as his fingers found the peaks though she jumped and got much less relaxed quite suddenly. At the first pinch, the heat in her belly writhed and then burned, and all the muscles down there clenched up a few times spastically.

That got her tensed up with nerves too. Touching her through her clothes and bras hadn't felt this good, and true physical pleasure was something she still felt kind of unsure about. Sure, she'd gotten excited, and had felt the throb in her nether regions that indicated she was wet when they made-out sometimes and when they touched, but that was manageable. It was a different kind of pleasure, intense and heart pounding and full of heavy heated emotions and excitement - because it was Soul.

On the other hand, there was a more focused kind of pleasure that could cause loss of control and eventually an orgasm… and that was another thing entirely. As she'd already discovered, she liked being in control of the situation. Plus…she still hadn't quite gotten over her issues with sex, and getting too excited with a guy – even Soul – still made her feel a little slutty.

Over all, it just felt like a line in the sand she wasn't ready to cross yet.

Instantly, her hand rose and seized his, stalling him. "Hold up a minute."

He stopped and looked at her, obviously confused. "What's wrong?"

"Uh…." How was she supposed to explain the fact that she was uncomfortable with sexual pleasure? They had conversed plenty about her issues, but this one specifically had never come up because he'd never stumbled across anything quite this pleasurable before.

This was going to be awkward however she put it, but she still took a few moments to try and figure out the best way to approach it. Perhaps she could just ask him not to mess with her nipples? Worth a shot she supposed.

"Maybe just, uh, avoid touching my nipples too much? Kay?"

He cocked his head to the side and blinked at her, looking nonplussed and confused.

"Why exactly? I thought they were the parts that felt the best?"

Well shit. Why'd he have to know that? Actually…. curious now, she asked, "How'd you know that? Are guy's nipples sensitive too?"

He paused for a moment and seemed to consider the query.

"Uh, no I don't think so?" When he finally answered, it came out as a question, like he wasn't sure. "I mean, they hurt if you pinch them too hard, but other than that…I dunno. I've never messed with them to be honest."

"Huh. Interesting." So, Soul's nipples weren't super sensitive like hers were. Good to know.

"Anyways, weren't we talking about your nips not mine? You just admitted that I was right, and they felt the best, so what exactly is the problem here?"

"That. That right there is the problem."

"Them feeling good is a problem?"

"Yes, okay?" She said exasperatedly. "Kissing and stuff feels good, but not good like that. That's a different level of good, one which I'm comfortable with. But _this_ is a level I'm not comfortable with yet."

"Oh." He blinked, looking stunned. "Okay. That makes sense I guess. But you don't mind me touching your boobs as long as I don't mess with your nipples too much?"

"Yeah, basically. The squeezing thing you were doing before was fine."

"Alright." He nodded and agreed easily, and she relaxed, feeling herself fall just a little more in love with him for his easy-going nature. All she ever had to do was tell him that something made her uncomfortable and he wouldn't do it. Simple as that. He never fought her, never pushed her too hard, and was always considerate.

Funny. Nobody would peg the rude, lazy, drooling, devil-may-care Soul Eater as being a perfect gentleman, but when it came to Maka he was exactly that. At least when it came to stuff like this. He still nearly knocked her over on a regular basis when reaching over her for food from the cabinet, or to get the toothpaste, or to reach the salt on the other side of the table. He had no concept of personal space and never really had. But since that never really bothered her it didn't matter. Undoubtedly if she told him it did bother her, he would instantly stop.

He resumed touching her, carefully avoiding touching her nipples too much, though of course his palms still pressed into them when he grabbed her with his whole hand. That was manageable though.

Very soon he removed one hand to take his weight as he lowered himself back over her and his lips came into contact with her skin. Chapped lips kissed the center of her chest, and then his long tongue snaked up her sternum between her breasts. With a contented sigh and closed eyes, she raised one hand and rested her arm on his shoulders while her fingers burrowed into his white mop. She was careful about it, since her arms were all scratched up, but strangely she didn't feel the pain nearly as sharply at the moment.

Soon enough, his mouth mounted one small hill, and she jumped and yelped when he bit her. It wasn't too hard, just a nibble really compared to his normal bites, and then he sucked. Several hickeys were laid in short succession over both breasts, which actually felt as good as his other hickeys, maybe even better. She relaxed completely and let herself enjoy it, trusting him entirely to not pass the line she'd just laid down. It was precisely why she trusted him so much, because he never betrayed her. He was loyal to a fault, which allowed her to let herself be putty in his hands and under his mouth with no fear.

Letting herself trust him so completely had the side effect of prompting her other emotions to rise to the surface - her love for him beating behind her breastbone so hard that it felt like it would break and shatter into pieces. That didn't seem to be such a bad thing though, especially not as his breath caressed her and fanned the flames right over said breastbone.

Things grew hazy with both emotion and the pleasurable feelings shivering through her body and she almost forgot the fact that she was in pain at all.

But then she had to close her legs on his hand as it sneakily made its way up between her thighs.

He'd touched her there over her underwear before off and on since the first time. It was still sort of awkward for her, and still felt weird. Mostly the attempts had been clumsy and hadn't felt particularly amazing by any means. In the end she had determined that it felt…okay, but not pleasurable the way it did when she touched herself. Maybe she just had to get used to the feel of his fingers and the idea of him touching her there.

Right now certainly wasn't the time to try again. On the off chance something went right, and he figured everything out down there, she knew good and well she wasn't ready for it. She'd let him touch her there when she was fully in control, excited yes, but not overwhelmed with emotion the way she was right now. She had let herself relax too much of her control, trusted him too much, and couldn't let him go that far at this particular moment.

So she had to put a stop to it.

"Um…I don't think that's a good idea…"

"Don't worry. I won't do anything to freak you out."

She stared up at him, his crimson eyes urging her to trust him. Here was a line in the sand that maybe she could move. Right now, she could choose to continue trusting him, that he wouldn't do anything she wasn't ready for, or she could turn him away. It was surprisingly difficult for her, with him locking his gaze to hers so forcefully, practically begging her to trust him. It didn't even seem like it was something he wanted to do, so much as it seemed like he was trying to prove himself to her.

The answer was simple. Of course she trusted him. Slowly she willed herself to relax her thighs and the rest of her body followed suit. Holding her stare, his hand slowly inched up the last few inches, and she sucked in her breath to hold in her chest when his hand made contact. It shifted until his palm was fully covering her and pressed to her. It was oddly intense, especially with the eye contact, and she wished she could break it but somehow couldn't.

For a moment she was confused, but when he didn't move his fingers and simply cupped her there, she realized he just planned on holding her. That was fine. A little awkward perhaps, but fine. The weight of his hand there felt nice actually. After a long moment, she finally began to fully relax, her muscles untensing and her breathing returning to normal.

"See? This is okay right?"

"Yeah." She breathed, nodding.

A small smile parted his lips and then he dipped his head and pressed gentle kisses to her throat and collarbone, in a more soothing manner than before. Gradually she relaxed enough to even close her eyes. Even the tension from arousal began to drift as he didn't do anything to re-spark it. Eventually his hand gently eased away, and he shifted to the side of her, still pressing gentle kisses to her skin.

As she snuggled up to him and drifted off, she very faintly heard him murmur, "…love you, Maka."

Already mostly asleep, she mumbled, "…love you too…" and then passed out.

* * *

 **Authors Note:**

Alrighty. And here's the next chapter! Sorry, once again, for the slight delay. I really am trying to get these chapters out at least every other week, but preferably every week. Sometimes life gets in the way though. But there you go. Anyways! I hope everyone enjoyed this lovely chappie with a hint of citrus in the air. ;) No worries, more actual lemons and limes will be coming up, and of course some more humor and action too.

As always, a huge thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Hugs and kisses and confetti all around!


	26. Chapter 26

On the way home, Maka couldn't seem to stop thinking about what the kishin egg had said.

" _Soon it will be eternal night and insanity will reign. We'll all dance in the light of the moon and the rest of you will die."_

Somehow it felt like an important clue. Why would they dance in the light of the moon specifically? Why exactly would it be eternal night? Of course, it could just be a metaphor. Using the night and moon as a symbol for evil wasn't exactly new. But still.

Also, thinking back on it, when he'd died, he had looked up at the moon. Maybe that was just supposed to be dramatic or something…but maybe it actually meant something important.

To date, no one had been able to find the Kishin. He'd disappeared into thin air. With a soul wavelength that powerful - and meisters and weapons all over the world looking for him - it seemed impossible. Maka wasn't the only person with soul perception. It might be a rare ability, but absolutely everyone they had who possessed it had been looking for him in every country, even scouring the seas. But what if he wasn't on the Earth?

Even though it was a wild theory, she figured it might be worth telling Lord Death. If she was wrong, then no harm done. But if she was right…then they'd finally find him.

So, as soon as they got back to the DWMA, Maka sought an audience with Lord Death. She hadn't even told Soul her suspicions, because they seemed so farfetched.

They were greeted with a wave and, "Hey! How ya doing?!"

She took a deep breath and charged in, "Hello, Lord Death. I had an odd idea that I wanted to run by you. It has to do with the Kishin."

"Okay. Go on."

"When we were on our last mission, the kishin egg said something about there being an eternal night, and all the kishins dancing in the light of the _moon_ , specifically. What if the kishin is on the moon? We haven't been able to find him, and it's been months since he escaped."

There was a long pause, and Soul gaped at her, looking a little stunned. Then he scowled, obviously not pleased with her keeping quiet about this. "Way to keep me in the loop, Maka…" He grumbled under his breath.

"It's such a crazy idea…I just didn't want to talk about it." Maka whispered back, and then turned her attention back to Lord Death who still seemed to be thinking about it.

"Hm…what an interesting idea. Maybe you're onto something, Maka. It has been odd that we haven't been able to find him, even when our best are on the case. Tell you what; I want you to look into it. You are excused from all missions until you can verify whether or not your theory is correct."

"Wh-what? How am _I_ supposed to find out if the Kishin is on the moon?"

"To be quite plain, you have the strongest soul perception ability I know of. If anyone were able to figure it out, it would be you." Lord Death chirped happily. "You may have to work up to it, but I believe that if you try your soul perception while resonating with Soul, you might just be able to stretch it that far. Good luck!"

They left feeling gobsmacked.

After a while of walking quietly, a somewhat lazy voice broke the silence. "Hey, congratulations, Maka."

"Huh?" She turned to Soul and gave him a confused look, not understanding why he was congratulating her.

"He said you have the strongest soul perception…that's pretty cool in my book." He gave her a big toothy grin, and she slowly returned it.

To be honest it had shocked her so much she hadn't been able to enjoy the compliment, but at Soul's words of praise, she began to feel a little pumped up. "Yeah, he did. I can't really believe it."

"I can." He said simply, and she felt a warm bubble of happiness bloom in her chest area.

"Thanks…But I don't know if I can do this. I mean, all the way to the moon?"

"Hey, don't worry about it. You've never even tried far distance soul perception while we're resonating before. You've only used it on the enemies we've been fighting. I know we can do it."

His encouragement served to boost her confidence, as it always did, and she smiled at him. "Yeah, you're right. We can do anything we set our minds to!"

"That's the spirit!"

Both of them were so enthusiastic about it, that as soon as they returned home after classes, they decided to try it – after dinner and the proper amount of digestion time of course. Two hours later, found them in the living room standing in front of each other.

"Ready to try?"

"Yeah." Maka nodded, and closed her eyes.

She reached for his soul and he met her in the middle, resonance following fluidly afterwards. It was as easy as breathing for them now and they sunk into a medium level resonance, the kind where they would be fighting in his normal form. It was their base-line resonance.

"Alright, let's see where my limit is like this first."

"Sounds cool to me."

With her eyes closed, she reached out with her soul perception. The darkness behind her eyelids was suddenly lit up as she perceived the yellow glow coming from her chest and then Soul's followed instantly, his blue melding with her gold. She dimmed her perception of their souls, so she could see others. Stretching her senses, she started with their apartment building and located each easily enough. She knew that without resonance, her limit was about a mile – not that she'd ever truly pushed it before. It would be interesting to see just how far she could stretch it.

Gradually she pushed her perception to its previous limit, and then past. As expected, resonating with Soul gave her more power to use and she leaned heavily on him, boosting her perception with the strength of his soul bolstering her own. She expanded to two miles, multicolored orbs flashing past faster and faster. She flexed her soul, stretched her perception, and got up to three miles, then four, then five, then six. At about ten she slowed down and started having to really strain to see anything beyond that. With some stubbornness she pushed herself to see another two miles, but then she had to pull back.

She probably would have pushed herself harder, but Soul could feel her stretch too hard. There was such a thing as pushing your soul too hard and injuring it, which was something to be avoided. Like a tendon, if you stretched too much too quickly you'd tear. With a spark of his soul against hers - which felt like getting popped by a particularly snappy rubber band - he attracted her attention.

"Back out Maka! You're going too far!"

She got the feeling that he'd been trying to get her attention for a little while, based on the slight edge of desperation in his tone along with a healthy dose of fear and anger that said she'd scared him. Suddenly feeling how lightheaded and woozy she really was, she very slowly pulled back – worried that going back too fast would be bad as well.

It took a moment, but eventually she got back to just seeing their souls, and noted how hers sputtered like a dehydrated firefly. That couldn't be good.

Opening her eyes, she winced as everything warped and was blurry for a moment. "Whoops."

"Whoops? WHOOPS?! That's all you have to say after nearly ripping yourself in half?!" Soul growled, obviously going more for the angry part of the spectrum.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I promise I won't push myself so hard again. I didn't realize how absorbing it could be, I've never gone that far before." She paused and then her excitement returned to her full-force and she couldn't resist adding, "It was incredible, Soul!"

"Well that's great, Maka, but you've gotta be more- Whoa!"

He had just disengaged from their soul resonance and suddenly it felt like she was a car whose battery had been removed. She almost face-planted right into Soul as her body went limp and tilted towards him. He caught her of course before she could break her nose on his collarbone, or something equally stupid.

Instantly his soul reached out and grabbed her sputtering soul, as quickly as his arms grabbed her falling body. The energy and pressure of his soul cradled hers and held it up above the dark water that it suddenly felt like she was drowning in. She would have passed out if he didn't forcefully keep her awake through resonance. All anger drained out of him and the only thing left was fear.

"I'm gonna be okay…just…keep holding me…until I stabilize…" She managed to gasp, her breathing a little labored now.

"Right! Of course, Maka! I'm right here, don't worry."

She nodded and let herself go limp in his hold as he lowered them both onto the couch. She ended up sitting curled up in his lap with her head on his chest, her ear pressed against his heartbeat. The steady rhythm – slightly faster though it was – soothed her, and she counted the beats to keep her mind alert. His soul propped hers up, much as his body was to hers, and slowly her strength returned, though some of it was probably given to her by him.

Naturally, after that little misadventure, it took a great deal of convincing and promises that she would be more careful to get Soul to let her try again, though he insisted she needed at least one day to recover.

So, the day after their first attempt, they found themselves once again in the living room. Like before, Maka closed her eyes and they initiated resonance, but this time Soul kept closer to her and she stayed in touch with him instead of getting so absorbed like before. It was almost like he tagged along with her on the journey. Stretching her perception, and thus her soul, this far… it really did feel like she was traveling outside of her body.

She hit her previous limit and instead of pushing herself, she instead called on Soul and their resonance amped up another level.

This was high level resonance, the kind needed for flying. Suddenly it was easy to stretch her perception way past the previous limit, until she could see the whole city. It was like she was drifting above, looking down on all the little lights… but every light was a soul. The sight was truly beautiful….

Suddenly Soul cussed, and she was snapped back to her body rather harshly, giving her a nasty case of whiplash. His arms grabbing her tightly had brought her back, although why he would physically grab her while they were doing this she had no clue. The sensation was comparable to being woken up from a deep dream, but the displacement was _much_ worse and nearly made her queasy.

"Ugh, don't do that Soul!" She sputtered into his chest, since her face was mashed into it. "Grabbing me like that snapped me back to awareness too fast! Now I'm so…dizzy…"

"I can feel it too ya know, we _are_ still resonating." He groused. "But would you have rather fallen over? Because you suddenly started teetering."

"I started falling? But I didn't push myself too hard this time! Why in the world would I fall? I didn't even feel it!"

"Hell if I know."

After a moment of thinking about it – once she'd removed her nose and mouth from Soul's shirt – she came up with, "Maybe I traveled too far from my body or something."

"Who knows? But I suggest we try it like this next time." He turned her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "This way I can prop you up."

"Okay. Let's try it."

"What? Right now? Shouldn't you rest?"

"I'm a little tired, but not too bad. I just wanna try one more time okay?"

With an exasperated sigh, Soul gave in. "Fine, but don't push yourself."

"I know, I know."

His chin hooked over her shoulder and his arms tightened snuggly around her midsection. Resonance seemed to come even easier than before, and for some reason it was stronger as well. That took her by surprise, and she spent a moment analyzing the quality of it.

"You know…I think we resonate stronger the closer we are physically." She mused.

"Makes sense."

With their enhanced resonance, she was able to regain her vision from above the city easily, and then some. It was a good thing the Kishin had such a massive soul thumbprint, because if she had to pick out a normal soul amongst all those teeny tiny lights, it would take her forever. That was training for another day she supposed. At the very least, she could confidently say that the Kishin was not in Death city.

She pushed it further until she could see the next town over. That was a stretch though, and soon she had to return to her body. Afterwards, she didn't feel faint, or sick, or like she was going to die. However, she _was_ hungry and tired, so they made a snack and watched a movie – which she fell asleep in midway through.

On their next attempt, they amped up their resonance rate to Witch Hunter level, and she expanded her perception dramatically once again. She stalled out though at the edge of Nevada. Death City was centralized, and she could stretch her perception in a single direction to see the border any way she pleased. But she couldn't go much further than that without going into dangerous territory again.

The time after that, they resonated at their highest level, Demon Hunter. That allowed her to expand shockingly further. It took almost a week of practice - and Soul amping them up with his piano - but eventually she was able to almost stretch her awareness all the way across the United States, plus that same distance up into Canada, down into South America, and out into the ocean. Of course, she could only do one at a time. But that was fine, she just needed to stretch her perception in a straight line far enough to reach the moon. Starting terrestrially gave her a sense of distance though, so that was how she was measuring it.

It was impressive, but they were still far from reaching the moon.

After pushing it hard for the fifth day in a row with similar results, Maka exhaustedly came out of it and flopped onto the couch. "Maybe Stein would have an idea of how to enhance our resonance rate and my soul perception abilities." She mused.

"Worth a shot I suppose. But I draw the line at any experimental surgeries – even if he does say they'd help."

"Agreed." Maka added in a shudder for good measure.

And so it was, that after their last class of the next day, they stayed and Maka approached her teacher with the request. He seemed intrigued and thought about it for a moment. "Hm…I can think of a few ways. Come and see me this weekend, we'll do some experiments and see if we can't get you working at your full capabilities."

"Okay. But no medical procedures."

He sighed. "Fine. If you insist. We'll leave those as a last resort."

"Not even then." Soul said firmly, stepping up next to Maka.

"We shall see." Stein said ominously and rolled out of the room on his chair backwards.

After sharing a nervous look, they followed.

That had been in the middle of the week, so Friday rolled around more quickly than they would have liked. Neither of them was particularly looking forwards to these, "experiments."

"Hey, maybe we could try one last time, and see how far you can get just with us resonating. Maybe if we're lucky, you'll see all the way to the moon and we can skip getting "help" from Stein." Soul made sure to air quote the word "help," to express his dubious feelings about it.

"I doubt it, but it can't hurt."

They initiated resonance, and ramped it up to Demon Hunter level right off the bat. To get that high, Soul had to play his piano of course, but this time he tried something different as she stretched her soul perception. Along with playing to ramp up their resonance rate, he also twined cords from her soul song within the key strokes. It strengthened her soul even more, and allowed her to go a little further…but still not far enough. She pushed, strained, but had to pull back eventually before she overdid it. She'd made it almost to Alaska this time.

By this point, she wanted to try aiming her perception up towards the moon, to see if she could even get close. So, they tried once more, and she turned her gaze upwards.

It was a little disorienting…. on the earth she could go from soul to soul, but up in the sky she just had to keep stretching her senses, not entirely sure she was even getting anywhere. All she got was a sense of meaningless clouds. By her estimate, she maybe got halfway there, but it was really hard to tell. She might have fallen much shorter, or gotten closer.

Either way, they still had to go see Stein the next day. They arrived at his large lab at the DWMA, both of them rather tense and on edge.

"Welcome." He intoned, and they jumped, not even having seen him in front of his computer.

They both mumbled some sort of greeting, and he rolled his chair over to them. "Let us start, shall we? No use in wasting time."

"Uh, right."

"First, I want you to show me how you've gotten the furthest so far. I want you to do exactly what you've been doing and push yourself to your limits of soul perception, Maka."

She glanced at Soul, feeling a little uncomfortable. Stein had seen them resonate before of course, but those had been in battle situations, and Soul had been in his weapon form. It was more embarrassing to do it the way they had been lately, with Soul pressed up close against her and holding her up while she went soul hunting. Unfortunately, it was necessary, so with a slight cringe she stepped in front of Soul and he gingerly wrapped his arms around her.

She closed her eyes, both so she wouldn't have to see Stein's sharp clinical gaze, and also because it was what she normally did. Soul's grip around her tightened and his soul nudged hers, reminding her what they were supposed to be doing. She accepted the resonance, and instantly felt all of Soul's discomfort matching her own. He was about as enthused as she was over this show and tell business. They shared an empathetic cringe with each other and then resolved to try and put it out of their minds.

Switching on her soul perception, she saw Stein's soul, hungry with curiosity and tinged with madness, watching theirs closely. But she could sense the good intentions as well behind the madness, so that eased her a little bit, and she tried to dim the awareness of his soul so she could stretch her perception.

Outside, Stein watched as Maka and Soul resonated. He used his own soul perception to watch their souls. Out of all his students, these two probably had the highest resonance rate. They were absolutely perfect matches… as if they'd been made to fit together. It was a far cry from about a year ago when Maka refused to even synchronize with Soul properly. Now they fell into resonance like it was their natural state of being.

Stein wasn't normally one to feel pride in his students' accomplishments, but he couldn't help but be impressed with these two.

He calmly observed as their resonance level steadily crept upwards. Physically, they began to glow from the combined power of their souls' wavelengths, and the glow reflected off the shiny floor in a circle around them, quickly growing brighter and brighter as they hit the resonance needed for flight and then crept up towards Witch Hunter. Both of their eyes were closed. Once they'd hit flight level resonance, Maka's Grigori soul was activated, and her golden wings spread and curled around them both while a golden glow suffused her body.

As they edged into the next level, Soul began to take on that iridescent sheen that his weapon form did when entering into Witch Hunter, but he remained in his human form. Their glows combined, making a golden and blue aura as their power disturbed all the atoms in the air around them and caused the space in their vicinity to crackle. It seemed almost as though a powerful wind kicked up around them, even though it couldn't be felt. Maka's ponytails were picked up and moved in the unfelt gale, as was any loose clothing.

Once they got to Demon Hunter, their resonance level was through the roof, and Stein had to scoot back a little to avoid the almost electrical pops of neon blue that crackled around them. He was mildly shocked that they didn't burn a hole in the floor.

Tracing Maka's soul, he was impressed by how far she'd stretched her soul perception. In fact, he was quite frankly astonished. When she'd come to him and told him about her assignment to try and see all the way to the moon, he'd had his doubts – but after seeing this, he could easily believe it would be possible with some training and maybe some help.

Based on his calculations, she had made it five/eighths of the way there, so all he had to do was get her the last three/eighths. After a moment of holding where her limit was, she slowly retracted her soul.

As for Maka and Soul, they both came out of the resonance feeling less awkward, but still somewhat embarrassed about it.

"Excellent. You're farther along than I had expected."

"Really?" Maka asked, feeling hope bubble up in her gut. "So, do you think it's possible?"

"Oh yes. I believe so."

A sigh of relief escaped, and she sagged against Soul a little.

"A question. Does being in close physical contact increase your resonance rate?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. And I also tend to fall over if I go too far, so it helps to keep me upright." Maka replied, trying not to feel awkward about the question and failing a little.

"Interesting. Most pairs resonate while in weapon form, so this is not well researched material. Based on that, I would hypothesis that removing all barriers between you might also increase your resonance rate."

"Pretty sure we don't have any barriers anymore, right Maka?" Soul quirked an eyebrow at her and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I don't mean between your souls."

Maka blinked at him, confused by what he was getting at. Glancing at Soul, he looked similarly befuddled.

Seeing this, Stein sighed. "Your clothes. Removing them might be beneficial. Since physical contact increases your resonance rate, it would follow that skin to skin contact could increase it further."

It took a moment for her to absorb the suggestion, and then another moment to analyze it and verify that he really had just suggested they get naked.

"You're joking right?" Soul drawled, and failed at trying to look coolly bored. His eyes were a bit too wide.

"When have you ever known me to joke about anything not related to dissection?"

"He's right; his comedy repertoire is pretty limited." Maka reminded Soul, wincing at the memories. Then she turned back to Stein. "But I agree with Soul, you can't possibly be serious."

"Oh I am. If it makes you feel better, this is the least invasive method I have thought of thus far."

They shared a look. Somehow neither of them found that difficult to believe.

This was going to get a whole lot more awkward than Maka had anticipated. "Um…Soul?" She muttered, asking him with her eyes what he thought of this unexpected suggestion.

He grimaced and then shrugged. "It's up to you Maka. I'm willing to give it a try."

"Excellent. Shall we begin?"

"Wait, now?!"

"Well yes. That is why you're here, correct?" Stein asked, crossing his arms across the top of his rolling chair, on which he was sitting back to front of course.

"I am not getting naked in front of you, Dr. Stein." She responded firmly and crossed her own arms across her chest.

"I wouldn't suggest that either. There is a private room that you may go into to conduct the experiment. I can watch your souls through the wall easily enough and observe your resonance rate from out here."

"Oh."

Awkwardly they shuffled in the direction indicated and stepped into what looked like a small examination room. The door shut behind them, and Maka was left alone with Soul, wondering just how she'd gotten herself into this mess.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, and then her partner just slouched his way over to lean up against the wall, his hands shoved into his pockets and his "cool guy" bored expression firmly back in place. If she hadn't known him as well as she did, she'd have thought he didn't give a flying fuck about the proceedings.

To properly accomplish this particular task presented to them, she knew she was going to have to talk herself into it mentally, so she quickly proceeded to do just that.

Really, this wasn't that big a deal. He'd seen her in nothing but shorts before, and she'd seen him in just his boxers plenty of times. Yes, this was awkward and uncomfortable and sort of embarrassing, but they were a couple now, so it shouldn't be too bad…right? The setting was certainly uncomfortable, but at least they were alone. To make things a little more secure, she turned and locked the door.

That was the best she could do really.

Crossing her arms, she turned to walk into the room and then looked at Soul. She fixed the best determined look she could muster onto her face. "So, you ready to do this?"

He pushed off the wall and lazily walked over to join her in the center of the room. "Sure."

She nodded and shed her coat, the easiest article of clothing by far to remove. Her shoes went next, and she practiced some slow breathing techniques and reminded herself this wasn't a big deal.

If they'd been at home maybe she wouldn't be having as much trouble with it, but here – in Stein's examination room of all things – she felt amazingly vulnerable and exposed, which wasn't exactly a feeling she relished. Being watched from the other side of the door didn't help at all. He undoubtedly could see how awkward and embarrassed she was, and it just made her feel even more self-conscious.

She and Soul were facing each other, but she wasn't really watching as he undressed. Her attention was firmly focused on unclothing herself.

Her shoes, socks, and skirt came off easily enough, until all she was wearing was her underwear and her button up shirt. At that point, things got a little bit more difficult, as she suddenly realized that her fingers were trembling. Frowning down at the row of little white buttons, she willed her fingers to unbutton them and stop fumbling around like an idiot. It was both frustrating and humiliating. Of course, that just seemed to make the fumbling worse.

The sounds of clothing being shuffled off ceased and there was a moment of tense silence, which made her mess up even _worse_. After a second, Soul's hands appeared over hers, and he stilled her.

"Easy there. You're shaking like crazy."

She pursed her lips and then reluctantly glanced up. To her surprise, Soul wasn't as naked as she'd expected. It seemed he'd been dragging his feet a bit as well and had been undressing slowly. He was in about the same state of undress as her, except his last significant article of clothing was his unbuttoned jeans.

When she didn't respond to his observation, he asked, "You scared? Cause we can stop. We don't have to do this."

"He said this was the _least_ invasive method."

"Well yeah, but there's always the option of just practicing really hard to see if we can increase your perception that way."

"Eventually it would probably work, but who knows how long it would take? The sooner we can find the Kishin the better. Lord Death tasked us with this, and basically said we're the only ones who can. We have to do this, Soul."

"Okay. If you're sure." He mumbled. His fingers pushed hers out of the way and he proceeded with unbuttoning her shirt.

She dropped her hands and let him, her eyes sticking to his chest, though she wasn't really seeing it. After a moment he spoke up again. " _Are_ you scared? You seem pretty freaked."

"I'm not scared exactly. This is just really awkward and it's making me anxious. If it was just us, I don't think I'd have too much trouble, but being in Stein's office, with him watching, it's…it makes me feel kind of vulnerable in a way I don't like." She grumbled.

"I get what you mean. It's definitely not cool."

"Yeah. Definitely."

They shared a small grin, and then finally he was done with the buttons and she was shedding her shirt. That just left her in a bra and panties, and she shivered, both from the slightly chilly nature of the room and the discomfort. With his hands free once again, Soul shoved his thumbs in his jeans and shoved them down to kick them off.

For a moment they stood there in their underwear, looking at each other in both horror and amusement. Both their eyes stayed pretty much stuck on their partner's face though, which helped ease Maka's tension some.

"You know, if someone had told me we would be standing in Dr. Franken Stein's examination room in our underwear, I would never have believed them."

Soul snorted. "Yeah. No shit. It certainly wasn't on my to-do list."

They both laughed uncomfortably, and then Maka took a deep breath and firmed up her resolve. "Alright, let's just get this over with."

He nodded, and in short order both of them shed their last barriers. Maka risked a quick glance, and then snapped her eyes away from his hips.

"Soul! Seriously?!" She hissed quietly, shocked and flushed. If she'd bothered to look at his groin area before he shed his boxers, she would have been prepared for the sight, but as it was she was beyond surprised.

"I'm a guy, Maka. These things happen. Especially around naked women."

She groaned quietly. "This is going to make things even more awkward."

"Just try and ignore it. That's what I'm doing."

She just shook her head, not really sure what to say about it. So, she just turned around and waited for him to step up behind her. His hands landed on her waist, and she forced herself not to flinch, but couldn't help the way all her muscles stiffened. All that was left now was for him to embrace her, but when he tried, things went a little awry.

As he leaned in closer, she jumped when something got in the way and poked her in the behind before he could pull her flush against his front.

"Shit. Sorry about that. Hold on." He muttered, his voice tight and embarrassed. One hand left her waist, presumably to adjust himself.

Somehow, the situation struck her as amusing – shocking and disturbing and uncomfortable, but also kind of funny. She muffled the laughter that tried to sneak out, and her chest convulsed. A few snorts escaped though.

"It's fine." She sputtered, rolling her eyes up towards the ceiling to try and find some of her sanity.

He didn't miss her laughter and she heard him grumbling under his breath behind her. "It's not _that_ funny."

"It kind of is."

He heaved a sigh, and then chuckled. "Yeah, okay, I guess it's kinda funny."

By that point, he'd gotten himself arranged properly and suddenly his body was pressed to her back. She jumped a little again at the feel of all that warm skin in contact with her own. His knuckles pressed into her behind where he'd held himself flat against his belly, but his hand quickly wormed out from between them … leaving the problem to fit itself snugly against her. It lay along the crack of her butt up to her lower back, and she winced at the feel of it.

"Again, sorry. I really don't have any control over it."

"At least it's not stabbing me anymore." She coughed, doing her very best not to move around too much.

Really though, to fit her body properly against him and get comfortable, she did have to shift around a bit, and that got his hands tightening on her stomach while his head buried in her shoulder.

"Could you not move around like that?" He gritted out, sounding perturbed.

"Sorry. I was trying to get comfortable." But she froze as per request.

Closing her eyes, she tried her best to ignore the situation, and activated their resonance. Soul was somewhat reluctant – though he did go through with it, just slower than usual – and she quickly realized why. As soon as they resonated, Maka was swamped with a wave of Soul's problems. He was grappling with a rather intense mess of lust and was trying to shove it down as much as possible, but it was proving unwieldy and gave him more trouble than she'd thought.

Soul's problem was very distracting to Maka, and was absolutely impossible to ignore. It was like someone shouting in her ear, "I WANT TO FUCK YOU!" There was no way she could pretend like she wasn't hearing it. Frankly she didn't know how he handled it without going crazy or jumping her. The iron band of control he had on himself was impressive.

Resonating meant she was filled with his lust, and that triggered her own which made her uncomfortable. It was much easier for her to shove it down though, and she had a lot more success than Soul was currently having. But still, even though she could control hers, he undoubtedly could feel it just as clearly as she could feel his, and that was certainly very awkward.

At first their resonance was a bit on the wobbly side due to their discomfort and the newness of this particular situation, but after a while they finally harmonized. They both looked past their problems, and Maka could finally zone out into her soul perception state. As their resonance level increased through the normal stages, Maka found herself going further than ever before. As awkward and strange as it was being skin to skin, there was a level of intimacy there that – as soon as they got past their initial reactions – undeniably drew their souls closer and increased their resonance level exponentially.

She could see far and wide, more so than before, and wondered just how close she was to the moon. Directing her perception upwards, she strained to see the moon. This time, she got a vague sense of getting close to a large mass, and something else, but she just couldn't go that last little bit to get a clear picture.

This was their highest resonance rate to date. They were resonating so tightly that she could plainly feel every little sensation, thought, and feeling of Soul's, as if they were one and the same person. But she still couldn't quite reach her ultimate goal, and the failure discouraged and frustrated her to no end. Frustration boiled up in her chest and soul, hot and angry and disgusted with herself for the perceived weakness – blown out of proportion considering just what it was they were trying to do. They had gotten close to the moon, a feat probably impossible for anyone else, but Maka still wasn't satisfied. It was ridiculous, and she knew it. However, she just couldn't help but feel the sting of failure tug at her tear ducts as she returned to her body.

The saving grace, as always, was Soul. His wavelength cooled and calmed her own, soothing her and telling her that she was doing great, and they'd make it, and just be patient. She could feel his own frustration, but it was a temporary thing, quickly replaced with exasperation at her for being so ridiculous. It was a warm, fond exasperation, one tempered by his affection for her, but it still gave her a little slap which helped to clear her head.

Their souls slowly disentangled from each other until they were once again separate people.

As soon as they were fully back to themselves, they instantly became highly aware of their naked states once again. Maka quickly stepped away, and hastily dressed, chagrin and amusement tempering her irritation from before. The amusement stemmed largely from how Soul had flared hot again as soon as he came back to earth with her and re-realized their naked bodies, and how his body responded instantly. She felt the rebirth of his hard on prod her - which had prompted her to step away - but she also had to force back amused chuckles.

Sure, she was embarrassed, and it was still awkward and arousing, but somehow the situation just turned her into a stupid giggly girl dealing with her first naked boner. Her tummy fluttered, and the last dregs of frustration eased from her chest, though it hung around in the subconscious tightness of her muscles. She'd definitely end up with knots. It was a small price to pay though, to rediscover that dicks weren't disgusting. Soul's wasn't at least - and hadn't been for a while now - but this just reaffirmed that notion.

After this, she felt a newfound confidence.

So, it was with a calm expression that she turned back around and met Soul's eyes. Sending him a small, awkward grin, she cleared her throat and said, "Well, that was interesting. Not exactly how I'd imagined us to be naked together for the first time, but it was certainly educational."

He just rolled his eyes and then grumbled. "At least you aren't freaked out."

"It was a little disconcerting." She admitted, and then shrugged. "But it turned out to not be so bad."

Her comment was met with a snort and he shoved his hands in his pockets and slouched over to the door. She hurried to join him, and they exited together. Stein was waiting outside of course, his glasses gleaming.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I had fun writing it. It's probably one of my favorite funny scenes when they are naked.

So, a little fluff before the storm. We've got a couple more fluffy chapters and then the shit will hit the fan.

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys are all absolutely amazing.

Speaking of reviews, I'm gonna start implementing a new rule on all my stories, and just see how it goes. I'll start low though so no worries. If I get five reviews on a chapter, when I post the next chapter I'll put a sneak peak for the one after that - and it will be a good sneak peak, something funny or epic. Then, as unlikely as I think it is, if I get ten reviews on a chapter, I'll post the next chapter early. I just figured I would try this out, since I've seen so many other authors do it. :D


	27. Chapter 27

After trying the whole, "let's resonate naked," thing, Stein gave them their results. He'd watched their resonance from the other room of course.

"Good news. You are quite close to reaching the moon based on my calculations. However, it seems you will need one last nudge before getting there. So, I recommend going home and getting some rest. Tomorrow I will have the next experiment ready."

Trading looks, they nodded and happily left Stein's crazy laboratory. Still, the thought of tomorrow gave them both a sense of dread, which made their evening rather difficult to relax in. The next day rolled around much too soon, and found them passed out and tangled together on the couch. Once again, they'd fallen asleep curled up together while snuggling, and Maka's book lay on the floor discarded.

She woke to a face full of white hair and drool soaking her shirt. It stuck to her breasts uncomfortably, and she cringed a little, wondering why she'd ended up with a boyfriend who drooled in his sleep. As per usual, he'd tangled the couch blanket around their legs until it felt like she was tied up.

With a sigh, she managed to work her arms out from under Soul and threaded her fingers into his hair. Giving him a few tugs got a grunt and he slurped, then smacked his lips. More tugs resulted in a louder grunt and he squirmed around until he'd buried his face into her as much as possible. The point of his nose dug uncomfortably into her sternum.

"Soul. It's time to wake up. We've gotta go and do that other experiment with Stein."

"Com'on Maka…" he whined, wrapping himself even tighter around her, which frankly seemed impossible.

"We have to get up! It's already nine o'clock, we're gonna be late!"

"Don' care…"

"Well I do!" This was punctuated by a sharp yank at the white mane in her grip, and he winced a little.

"Okay, okay…fine."

The deep grumble rumbled out of his chest and vibrated against her own, making her suppress a shiver. His morning voice was extra deep and slightly raspy, and she'd always found it attractive. However, now was not the time to entertain such thoughts.

"Good." After a few moments where nothing happened, she prompted, "Uh…are you going to get up?"

"Yeah…" A heavy sigh cooled her wet skin, and he finally levered himself up on his arms, blinking bleary red eyes down at her.

They both glanced down at their tangled up lower bodies, which prompted a groan from Soul as he lazily tried to yank himself free while still half asleep. It was a clumsy attempt, and in the end, it resulted in them falling off the couch, but at least that made it easier to detach from each other and the blanket.

"You're impossible to sleep with." Maka grumbled, as she pinched her wet shirt with her fingers and pulled it away from her skin.

He didn't comment, probably because his slightly less asleep eyes were fixed on her as she walked away, pulling the shirt over her head. A distinctly distracted look crossed his face, particularly as she also shed her soggy bra on the way to her room. He could only see her back, but it was still plenty to get his blood pumping and certain parts of him to wake up completely.

As for Maka, she was aware of Soul's stare on her back, and it gave her the feeling of something hot and fluttery burning her stomach. There was still a hint of discomfort, but really she didn't feel the need to be particularly modest around him anymore. Mostly, she just felt liberated and daring. At the same time though, she did it mainly because she was in a hurry and it was the easiest thing to do.

It was both strangely comfortable and exciting at the same time, which was odd, but in the end she tried to ignore it all and just get dressed. They had to try and get to Stein's lab with some sort of decency in regard to time. As she'd told Soul, they were already late.

Once again, they found themselves ping ponging around the apartment, bouncing off each other and furniture as they got ready. It wasn't too much later when they both staggered into Stein's lab, out of breath from running.

He didn't comment on their tardiness. Instead, he just launched right into an explanation of what they would be doing.

"Ah. Soul. Maka. Excellent. Shall we begin?"

"With what exactly? What's this experiment going to be?" Maka wheezed, still a little out of breath.

"Glad you asked. I've put together a compound that I believe will heighten both your intrinsic abilities, as well as increase your resonance level even further." He held up a terrifying syringe filled with something blue and glowing.

Maka stared at it. There was no way he could mean to stick that thing in her right? One look at his carefully controlled expression and those bright eyes said, _'nope, he totally means to do it.'_

The needle looked way too long and thick, and of course the liquid itself was quite concerning – considering that it was actually _glowing_ and all – so she found herself taking a step back. Soul automatically stepped slightly in front of her in a protective manner and his soul flexed, their unconscious sync deepening as even his soul hugged her closer and more defensively. He was obviously just as disturbed by it as she was.

"Uh…okay…and what are you going to do with that?"

"This? This is going to deliver the serum to your soul's access point. Though a soul doesn't actually reside in the chest as most people think, there is an access point to it through the chest. That is why, for those of us with soul perception, we see it in a person's chest. I can deliver this directly to your soul, or at least to the physical portal to it … which happens to be the heart."

"You have got to be kidding. No way!" Soul barked.

Maka, on the other hand, tried to take a slightly more logical approach. "What are the side effects?"

"Virtually none to your physical body. I am a doctor; I know how to deliver the serum without injuring you - aside from a very narrow puncture wound which will heal very quickly. To your soul however, there may be some interesting effects. Essentially it will be strengthening your soul, like a stimulant to the body, so it will increase your abilities and capability to resonate. However, it might also cause out-of-control resonance, where you are unable to stop resonating for a time. It might also affect your soul in such a way that it does impact your physical body, with various potential outcomes. You might feel high, or drunk, or drugged. Your inhibitions may dissipate or increase. You might feel anxiety, or anger, or any other emotion. It would affect your mental state and the chemicals of your brain more than anything else. Although, of course strong emotions and chemicals such as adrenaline can affect your blood pressure, pulse, and the like."

"How long would it last?"

"Well, the symptoms should wear off in an hour or two… no longer than a day. However, your soul will be strengthened simply through adapting to it, so some of the enhancements may be permanent, but not the side effects."

At this point, Soul cut right to the chase and asked the question both of them were most concerned about. "Oi! Isn't that needle gonna hurt like a bitch? How about that part of it, huh?"

"Well yes, it will be painful. However, I do have an oral medication here which should help to mitigate some of the pain and also any anxiety that may result as a side effect – either prior to, or post operation."

"I need to think about it for a moment."

Stein backed off. Soul seemed shocked that she was actually considering it, but thankfully stayed quiet while Maka did some soul searching. There was a lot to consider, the good of the world vs. her own comfort, whether they had enough time to try some other way, whether she thought this would be worth it, and many other things.

In the end though, after a good deal of thought, she decided to go for it.

It was time to just find the Kishin and get it done with. If she couldn't get there by herself, then she'd have to do it this way. Undoubtedly with some training she could get there on her own, but just recently there had been an upsurge in reports of people going mad and kishin sightings. If this went on too much longer, there would be serious repercussions. She couldn't risk that.

"Fine." She nodded, and Soul's head swung around so he could give her a sharp look over his shoulder.

"Maka, this is crazy!"

"I know. I don't like it any more than you. But we have to do everything we can to stop the Kishin, as fast as possible. If we wait, more people will go insane and things could go south really fast. Rebellion, civil war, outright chaos…. we're already on the brink, Soul. All over the world. They're counting on us."

He gritted his teeth, his eyes tight and pained. It was obvious he was fighting the urge to just grab her and carry her off, but after a moment he blew a sharp breath out of his nose.

"Fine. But just so we're clear, I don't like it."

"I already said that, and agreed with you." She sighed, stepping around him.

Stein handed her some pills, which she took with some water. The affect was quick, and soon she found it hard to stand upright. Her body felt so relaxed that she had trouble getting her muscles to work properly. Soul instantly wrapped an arm around her waist to prop her up and then had to grab her with both arms as her weight tried to drag him down with her.

"Soul, bring her over here." Stein motioned to an examination table, and he reluctantly dragged her over to it, leaning her against the edge so he could rearrange his arms to lift her up onto the top.

Once she was arranged, Stein motioned for Soul to join her on the table. "I want you to lie next to her on the table. Since the two of you resonate best when in close physical contact, it will likely help to stabilize her soul during and after the procedure to have you right next to her."

He grimaced but did what Stein asked and clambered onto the table with her. The table was so small that he had to turn on his side and squeeze in pretty tight to her, or else risk falling right off. She could hear him grumbling under his breath, and the tension in his body was unmistakable. It was definitely not super comfortable to be lying pressed up close together in front of Stein, so she understood where he was coming from.

Thankfully though, for Maka it wasn't too bad, since she was already feeling just a little bit loopy. Her inhibitions had been lowered somewhat, so it wasn't nearly as embarrassing as it would have been for her otherwise. Even as her top was unbuttoned and a cold swab wiped her skin, she stayed relaxed.

Over all, she felt quite calm and happy - that is, up until she noticed the needle being aimed for her chest. Even with the buzz, she could feel fear shoot down her spine and her whole body tensed up in readiness for what would doubtlessly be intense pain. Soul reacted instinctively, and a scythe blade suddenly popped into being over her, arching protectively over her chest.

"You're going to have to let me through or we can't proceed." Stein said dryly, and then added. "Also, it would be a good idea to go ahead and activate resonance with Maka. You will need to help stabilize her soul wavelength so it doesn't go out of control. It might be a good idea for you to hold her still as well."

"I'm fine Soul, let him do it." Maka mumbled, her words slurring just a tiny bit but still perfectly lucid. As far as pain meds went, this one probably wasn't going to do as much as she'd like, however anything stronger and she doubted she would have the presence of mind to actually do what she needed to. That would defeat the whole purpose of this exercise.

Reluctantly, Soul withdrew the blade and much less hesitantly activated resonance with her. She knew he could feel just how fuzzy and relaxed she felt, but at the same time that persistent terror wormed its way through her. She couldn't watch as the needle came down.

Through their resonance, Soul could of course feel her terror, and he tried to eliminate it as much as possible. His grip tightened on her, which helped a little, and one hand came up to cover her eyes as he whispered in her ear, "Relax, I've got you. Don't even think about it. Just focus on me."

She tried to do as he said and focused on their resonance more than anything else. It didn't entirely work, but it helped a little. The fear eased up – though when she felt fingers on her chest, prodding her sternum and counting ribs, she couldn't help but tense up again some. When she felt the tip of the needle prod her, she felt panic hit her hard and fast again.

There were so many things bad about this situation: the vulnerability, the whole mad scientist thing -which had disturbed her since first meeting Stein - and the anticipation of pain.

Maka could deal with pain, she'd done it before and would continue to do so. It was just part of her job. But this was something entirely different. This wasn't a wound she received while fighting. She couldn't try to block it or fight against it, all she could do was lay back and take it… and somehow that made it a million times more frightening. Not to mention the type of pain involved, a needle reaching soul-deep into her chest was not something to be taken lightly by any means.

Her fright was so difficult to contain that Soul responded by just up and grabbing her soul with his. He latched on and dragged the large part of her consciousness into his soul-space. Abruptly and without warning, she found herself in that black and red room, and the sudden change had her disoriented for a moment. A part of her was still out there, still very much aware of the needle pressed to her, but most of her was in his soul-space with him. She barely had time to catch sight of him before her face was mashed into his pinstriped chest. Just like in the real world, Soul had immediately wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close, protectively, obviously doing what he could to guard her from the unpleasantness of this situation.

"Soul, wha-?" was all she had time to say, before the sensation she'd feared was upon her.

The feeling of something sharp piercing her chest was unlike any she'd ever faced before, at least not to this extent. She'd been cut and stabbed and such in battle, but this was so precise, so deliberate. It didn't go particularly fast, though it wasn't slow either, and it went so deep she didn't think it would ever stop. The pain just got worse and worse, agony shooting through her ribcage and all the muscles, tendons, and nerves in the area. Everything inside her screamed with it.

Even though it was dulled somewhat by having her consciousness split like this, the part of her still in her body experienced it fully of course. The sharpness of the pain was blunted, but still intense and beyond unpleasant.

Inside his soul-space, Maka found herself reacting to the pain she could feel echoing from the part of her soul connected to her body by clutching him to her tightly and burying her face in his suit. His arms tightened around her, and somehow they ended up on the floor on their knees. He must have lowered them there as the body her soul had manifested crumpled up.

Then it got even worse as the needle pierced her soul. At that, there was no dulling the agony, since it affected her soul directly, and the part of her inside Soul was affected just as strongly as the rest of her. A scream worked its way out of her chest and was somewhat muffled by his. The first shrill sound was followed by others, none of them well controlled, and both sobs and chokes could be heard as well.

In his soul-space, he could hug her to him, comfort her, and she somehow ended up in his lap. The black dress she wore in here shortened to accommodate the position, and she clung to him with both arms and legs, desperate for something to hang onto. Her fingers tightened in his jacket until her knuckles were white.

Outside, her body was being held tightly by Soul, to prevent her from moving and possibly hurting herself with the needle. But he couldn't quite prevent her from arching slightly and tossing her head. None of the sounds she made out there were muffled, and came out quite pathetically. She somehow managed to wrestle her screams down to sobs and groans, but it was hard to do, especially with split concentration.

Soul was privy to all her screams, both inside and out, as well as the pain and everything else she was experiencing…. but all he could do for her was hold her.

His voice sounded in her ear, through their resonance, and in his soul-space as he tried to sooth her.

"Easy, easy. Shhh. It's going to be okay…just a little longer. Breathe Maka, you've gotta breathe. There you go, deep breaths, good. Just focus on my voice…"

The injection of the serum wasn't any more pleasant, in fact it was even worse if possible, as her entire soul shuddered and cringed at a burning sensation. It felt like her insides were being scalded by boiling water, and her soul stung sharply as if bit by acid. She desperately clung to Soul, and tried to focus every ounce of attention she had on him instead of the agony. His voice and body and soul were like her anchors, holding her tethered to some sort of sanity amidst the intense unpleasantness.

Finally, she felt the burning sensation ease just a little, and the movement of the needle carefully being removed. As soon as it was over, she sagged, panting and still crying uncontrollably much to her shame. Slowly her consciousness returned fully to her body as Soul released her from the confines of his soul-space. Once she had more presence of mind, she instantly shut down the waterworks. Still, her body shivered uncontrollably for a long moment and she curled into Soul more tightly, hiding her face in his chest to try and limit the humiliation somewhat. She hated being this vulnerable, hated that she lost control of her voice and tears, and hated that she now had no control over her body. It was downright mortifying.

Through their resonance, she could feel that Soul didn't think she had anything to be embarrassed about. He clearly expressed to her that she took it much better than he would have. The sentiment helped to ease some of the shakes and shame, but it still took a while before she calmed completely. By that time, she had already begun to feel the serum working within her.

Her soul seemed to pulse… like a heartbeat. It gradually grew stronger until her whole body was humming with it. Everything tingled with awareness, and she was more aware of her soul than ever before. It filled her, made her feel tight and hot and too small to contain it. At the same time, it was intoxicating - a fierce beat drumming behind her breastbone. Power seemed to flood through her, to the point where she felt drunk on it.

Her resonance with Soul was an anchor at first, something to keep herself aware of reality. She grasped at it, and as her soul's wavelength tangled even tighter with his, something hot and bright woke up inside her. Her soul was out of control, and it was easy to get lost, overwhelmed. Her emotions burned brightly, and more so by the second. Thankfully the only emotions that seemed to have been activated were the ones she had for Soul, probably since they were resonating when the serum took effect. At least she didn't have to deal with an anxiety attack or something… though that might have been less awkward.

Suddenly she felt like she couldn't get close enough to him. Their bodies were already plastered to each other as tight as possible, so all she could do was wrap her soul around his and bond to him tighter and tighter. Their resonance rate shot through the roof as she indulged in unfettered resonance that probably could be felt all through the academy. At least the luminescence forced Stein back a ways, so they had a little more space.

There was nothing she could do to curb herself, so she went with it and forced herself to remember the purpose of this whole thing. Soul, being so tightly connected to her, felt her intentions and helped her to focus her mind. With his help, they managed to wrestle herself into gear and turned her soul perception on. She knew she wouldn't have long, because this thing – whatever it was – was already making logical thinking exceptionally difficult. So, she instantly turned her soul perception towards the moon and allowed their resonance rate to shoot up to high capacity.

Her soul perception was sharper, and she could stretch her soul further than ever before. Finally, she broke through the haze of soulless space between the earth and the moon, and as soon as she was within visual range, she instantly knew that her suspicions were correct. There was absolutely no mistaking that particular feeling and the wavelength staring back at her with the eye of insanity.

Just looking at it nearly sent her around the bend, but thankfully her anti-demon wavelength saved her from going insane. Soul dragged her back anyways though. He didn't like her being that close to the thing.

"Yes! He's there…he's on the moon!" She gasped out, hoping that Stein heard her with her face mashed into Soul's chest as it was.

"Excellent! Good job, Maka. I will go and inform Lord Death right now. I'll return shortly to make sure everything is proceeding as expected. First though, I believe the two of you would be more comfortable in the private exam room."

Maka could not stand, not even a little, so Soul had to actually lift her and carry her into the private exam room they had used yesterday. Stein left them there.

Thankfully there was an actual bed in here, so Soul laid her down on it carefully, only to be dragged down mere seconds later by Maka. She couldn't seem to stop her arms from grabbing him tighter and preventing him from putting any space between their bodies.

"Okay! Okay! Sheesh, just let me … I'm gonna squash you! Hold up! Maka!" Soul protested as he lost his balance and toppled onto her.

With much squirming, he somehow managed to right them on the bed so they were lying curled up on their sides. That wasn't enough though, and Maka ended up practically crawling on top of him and draping her arm and leg over his. He complied easily and flopped onto his back, letting her snuggle into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. They were still resonating, and through it Maka could feel something hot curling up tight in his belly, but he suppressed the desires harshly. It was hard though, because he was being bombarded by Maka's emotions and was having a hard time fending them off.

As for Maka, she had no hope of controlling anything at all, and soon found herself moving against him in ways she hadn't really done before. Her body just would not stay still no matter what she did. Her legs twined around his, rubbing up and down and fidgeting the way they sometimes did when she had drunk too much coffee and was trying to sleep. Fingers buried into his shirt and twisted it up tight before releasing so she could rub her hand back and forth across his chest. Any space between them was eliminated as she arched her back and pressed tight to his body. Even worse was the way her hips worked against him, grinding her crotch area into his thigh or hip - whatever happened to be present, depending on where her legs were at the time.

There wasn't a thing she could do to prevent the squirming and wiggling, even though it was embarrassing. It was aggravating, frustrating, and not fun exactly, however her soul was running wild and causing her body to respond whether it wanted to or not. All her love and physical desires for Soul were controlling her, and she just couldn't get close enough, physically or soul-to-soul.

It was amazing that Soul managed to restrain himself under the circumstances and merely wrapped his arms around her and let her do her thing. For him, this was pure torture. They'd done stuff sure, but this was entirely different. When they'd kissed before, she'd maintained a certain distance, not necessarily physically, but emotionally. He knew good and well that she liked being in control of herself and the situation based off all their conversations and all the rules she put down. She'd always participated, but hadn't grinded against him or really moved her hips at all, hadn't moaned except for a few rare soft noises he could pull from her, and had always stopped the proceedings before it got out of control.

The way she'd described it after the Big Foot incident, it seemed like there was something about feeling too good that scared her. Maybe it was a vulnerability issue, or maybe it was just that it made her feel like she wasn't in control any more. Or it was equally possible that she was still freaked out about letting herself enjoy sex too much since it had always been a bad thing in her mind.

So, he'd never gotten her to do any of the things she was currently doing. Soft sounds constantly came from her throat, which he could feel were muted through force of will - since they were resonating - but she couldn't entirely hide them. Her body was wiggling and squirming against him, rubbing every inch of herself against him almost aggressively. It was almost like she was trying to find a gap where she could just crawl up inside him.

That was hard enough to resist, it was almost impossible to ignore how his dick was doing its best impression of a flag pole - probably a white flag of surrender. Surrendering to her and his own desires was exactly what he desperately wanted to do, but he had to hold himself back. If it had just been her body, he might have had a slightly easier time of it, but resonating while doing this stuff was making it exceptionally difficult. He could feel everything she was, and could feel first hand all the love and lust _for him_ that was driving her body to be so squirrelly. He'd felt her feelings for him before of course, when they'd resonated and come into soul-to-soul contact, but they'd never been this overwhelming and overpowering. It was no wonder she couldn't control herself.

It was a miracle he managed to control himself.

It seemed Stein had predicted correctly and one of the side effects was her emotions going completely out of fucking control. He was just glad it was this and not panic or rage, though that might have been easier for him to handle.

It was all he could do to try and force his mind away from fantasies of grabbing her and taking her right here and now. It would be so simple - all he'd have to do was wait until her thigh hitched over his hip again and then drag her up and over until she straddled him. She was wearing a skirt, her panties would provide little protection, and he could be out of his zipper in a heartbeat. But those thoughts were beyond dangerous. They were treading into the land of treachery and betrayal.

He knew good and well that she wasn't ready for sex, and may never be. If it ever did happen, it would probably be for his benefit. She would likely get up enough courage to go for it as long as she didn't receive too much pleasure. As for him, he absolutely refused to do it until she was ready to go all the way and orgasm too – not that he'd ever told her that, because he knew it would freak her out. So, it might take a long time.

There was no way he would betray her. Even though almost everything in her body and soul was telling him she wanted him right now, he could clearly feel how the self-aware part of her was feeling horrified by her actions. So, he forced himself to stillness… as much as possible. His arms locked into place around her, and he swore they would not move. His hips on the other hand, were a bit more difficult to control and every so often they bucked – usually when her thigh rubbed across him – but that didn't do any harm.

It was a good thing they'd locked the door, because a short while later Stein returned and knocked to ask if everything was going smoothly.

"Yeah! Everything's fine in here!" Soul managed to yell back, his voice a little choked.

"Any abnormalities or side effects?"

"Uh…just…heightened emotions."

"Well yes, I can see that well enough with my soul perception. But are there any physical problems?"

"Nope. Everything's just peachy keen." Soul yelped, one of his hands having to redirect one of her hands as it got a little too close to hip level.

"Alright. Well, if there seem to be any problems, just yell. I'll be in the next room."

"Okay!"

It was with a sigh of relief that Soul heard Stein's footsteps retreat. That had been awkward.

This continued for a while, and they both quickly became drenched in sweat. Soul found himself staring up at the ceiling, sweat trying to crawl into his eyes, his bangs plastered to his forehead, and he wondered just how much longer he could handle this. Something was going to give, either he'd have a heart attack from how hard his heart was beating or he'd hyperventilate from panting for so long. Or else he'd just pass out from the heat or maybe from the loss of blood to his brain. It all seemed to have pooled much lower on his body and rallied around his other head, which wasn't helping his thinking any. Normally there was a set limit to how long he could keep it up, but every time his hard-on flagged, Maka would do something to wake it right back up. Thankfully - or maybe not thankfully, he couldn't tell any more - there wasn't enough stimulation to actually orgasm. If it was possible to die from blue balls, he would have done so several times over by now.

Maka didn't seem to be doing any better - even worse in fact since she was doing all the moving around and exerting so much energy. It seemed to be exhausting her, but she still didn't seem capable of quitting. However, as time went on her movements did begin to become slower and more sluggish.

It was at least an hour or two before she suddenly stopped altogether, and Soul raised his pounding head to peer down at her and make sure she hadn't died or something. Based on her slack face and limp body, he decided she had simply passed out due to exhaustion. Just to be sure though, his fingers found her pulse, and he muttered a few thankful cusswords when he felt that it was already beginning to slow the hell down back to normal. His skull thudded into the thin pillow and he blew out a heavy breath of relief, beyond grateful that it seemed to finally be over.

Several hours later, Maka woke slowly, feeling like she was swimming up through molasses to do so. When she pried her crusty eyes open, it was to the sight of Soul's chest. It took her a moment to recall everything that had just transpired, but as soon as she did her instinctual reaction was to flinch back hard enough to fall out of the bed. The thud and sudden movement must have woken up Soul - who had apparently taken a nap too - because it was barely a second later when his messy matted head poked over the side of the bed to stare down at her.

She lay on the ground, feeling a little dizzy and just wishing the ground could swallow her up, but met his red stare nonetheless.

"Yo. You okay?"

"Yeah. I just fell out of bed. It's no biggy." She mumbled back.

"And how about…uh…do you feel normal now?"

Another sharp recall made her cringe and she could feel the flush work its way over her face. "I feel fine now. Sorry about…tackling you like that."

"Don't worry about it. Cool guys get tackled by girls all the time. I'm used to it."

That forced a snort from Maka's nose and she finally sat up. "Sure, Soul."

As she sat up her chest protested with a small twinge and she winced, pressing a hand to it.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just pinched a little."

So saying, she stood a bit more carefully, noting how sticky she felt. Apparently, she'd worked up quite a sweat and now it had dried into a sticky itchy coating. Time to shower.

When nothing bad came from standing up, she made her way to the door and exited, followed by Soul who tumbled out of bed gracelessly in quick pursuit. Once out of the private exam room, Stein met them and informed them that he had told Lord Death about Maka's findings. Preparations for the final battle would be underway shortly, but he advised them that it may take some time and they should go home and rest while they could.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

And here is the new chapter! Right on time for once. :D

Can I just say wow? I was really surprised by the amazing turn out of reviews! Just in case you missed it last chapter, I'm now doing a new thing where if I get 5 reviews for this chapter I post a sneak peek of the next chapter, and if I get 10 reviews I post the next chapter early. :D

(Speaking of, thank you to everyone who reviewed! You guys are awesome and amazing!)

Anywho! We definitely got enough reviews last chapter for a fun sneak peek. So here it is! I hope you enjoy it~

* * *

 _He had seen that expression on her face before, outside of food and eating…. he'd seen a similar look when she was watching him kiss, chew, and suck on her. It wasn't just interest, it was excitement and possibly even arousal._

 _It was different though when she watched him eat and consume souls, because that same expression was also mixed with curiosity. But what exactly she was curious about, he wasn't entirely sure. Just what was going on in that pretty head of hers?_

 _Now he definitely wanted to know, so he decided to get the info by force if necessary._

 _The investigation started by him teasing her further, eating his sushi in a methodical way that required a whole lot of unnecessary tongue action, but he no longer watched her out of his peripheral. This time he looked right at her and waited. Sure enough, she glanced over at the – admittedly somewhat gross sounds – saw what his mouth was doing, got that look in her eyes, flushed, and then noticed how he was watching her. Instantly she jerked her eyes back down to stick to her plate and seemed to grit her teeth._


	28. Chapter 28

Things were a little awkward for a day or two, but after that Maka forced herself to get over it. It was ridiculous to make it a bigger deal than it actually was. She might have lost control while under the influence of some hinky unknown drug and soul serum shit, but in the end it had just been Soul to witness the debacle, and he promised that it hadn't been that big a deal.

Of course he was lying…. but she appreciated the attempt. She knew it had been difficult for him as well, and regretted that she'd put him through such a tough ordeal. That was one of the reasons why she forced herself to get over it as quickly as she did. It wasn't fair to Soul. He deserved to be treated normally and not have to deal with her freak-outs.

To make it up to him, she even made his favorite dinner while he was out getting his bike serviced. They'd been given the rest of the week off as both a thank you, and at Stein's recommendation for her to recover. So, they had some spare time.

Even so, Lord Death kept them abreast of the situation, and they knew that he had sent a committee to parley with the witches and hopefully settle some sort of alliance in the hope that a common enemy might do the trick. With them on their side, they had a chance of defeating the Kishin. That would take a little time to do though, which both Maka and Soul greatly appreciated since it would give them a chance to recuperate.

Aside from recovering, she'd also spent some time visiting with Crona.

Just recently, Medusa had been tracked down, and Stein and Marie had been dispatched to finish her off. Crona was expectedly nervous and upset over the whole thing. She was still his mother, so understandably he was torn about it. Their visits were even less verbose than usual on his side of the conversation, but at least they were held outside of his cell. The past few weeks he had gotten brave enough to venture out of his room again, but refused to leave the academy or re-enroll until Medusa had been dealt with. Surprisingly though, he did agree to train privately with Stein to learn how to control his black blood, and that had helped him gain some confidence.

Today though, she had told him she planned to do something special for Soul, so she'd had to excuse herself early.

As she cooked, a random impulse had her turning on some of Soul's music, and she bopped along to the beat as she sliced up and prepared the raw fish he liked so much. She paired the sushi with seaweed salad, which she actually did like in small quantities, and made fried rice. She would enjoy the fried rice and a little of the salad, but not the sushi of course. Still, it was worth it, because she knew good and well that this was definitely Soul's favorite meal.

Excited at the prospect of his happy expression, she danced along to the music as she cooked. Blaire sat on the window sill, happily eating the extra fish Maka had brought her. She was so engrossed in fact that she didn't bother to make fun of Maka's dancing, even though she normally would. Though the scythe meister was quite graceful when fighting, her dancing was awkward and off-beat and made for great jokes.

The music covered the sound of Soul coming in the door, and his greeting stuck in his throat as he took in the scene that met his eyes. He absentmindedly shut the door quietly and stepped into the apartment to more clearly see just what the hell was going on. Maka was cooking - which wasn't unusual by any means - however, based on the smell he could tell she was putting together sushi, which _was_ rare. The other thing that shocked him silly was the fact that she'd actually put on music and was dancing to it as she cooked.

Music and Maka didn't exactly go hand in hand. Initially it was the reason he'd been so at ease with her when they first met. It was a breath of fresh air to be around someone who didn't give diddly squat about music.

So, to see her dancing was definitely surprising. They'd danced together several times, but he'd never really seen her dance by herself, and much to his amusement she was even more off-beat than when dancing partnered. Of course, that was probably because he'd been leading her, so he could get her to move to the beat, but by herself she was hopelessly rhythmless. Still, there was something strangely mesmerizing in the way she moved, and he couldn't stop himself from watching her as she bounced to the music.

The way Maka danced was weirdly clumsy, but somehow she made it look graceful. Years of training and fighting had honed her muscles, so she had excellent balance and posture, and if she'd had a good ear she probably would have made an excellent dancer. The little bouncy steps that happened as she moved up and down on the balls of her feet were more funny than anything else, but he was far from amused by the way the rest of her body moved. To be honest, he was fucking entranced as he watched her hips sway in a way he hadn't ever seen before. Of course, her hips didn't move to the beat, but that didn't detract from the sight at all in his opinion. Her upper body stayed mostly still, probably to allow her to cook without spilling shit, and it was a fascinating mix.

He didn't know how long he'd been standing there gawking, but it was eventually pointed out.

"Hi Soul! Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there and stare at Maka's ass forever?"

Of course that was from Blaire, who he hadn't noticed up until this point.

Now though, he shot her a nasty look as Maka whipped around, looking surprised. "Soul! How long have you been here? I didn't even hear you come in!"

"Oh, uh, not long. I just got here actually."

Blaire snickered and was obviously about to make a contradictory comment, so he sent her another sharp side eye. "Shut it, Cat."

"I didn't say anything." She mewed innocently, batting her eyes. "But I am heading out now, so you kids have fun! You'll have the place all to yourselves." With a smutty wink, she hopped down and headed out the door.

Maka flushed a little at the insinuation and also obviously picking up on the fact that he had probably been there for a while, doing exactly what Blaire had accused him of.

"Well anyways, I'm making sushi. It'll be ready soon." Maka said quickly, rerouting the conversation to something safer.

"Yeah, about that…you hate sushi. So why are you making it?"

"It's your favorite dish. Besides, I'm also making the fried rice that we both like so much."

He could feel a happy flush try to work its way onto his cheeks, but suppressed it to the best of his ability. Cool guys did not blush. Period.

Keeping his face straight, he cleared his voice and said, "Um. Thanks. So, what's the occasion?"

He was surprised when she flushed. "Well, I felt kind of bad about putting you through such an ordeal the other day, so I figured this could make up for it."

"Ah." The less said about that the better. It was still an awkward topic and he didn't want to make things uncomfortable. So, he quickly changed the subject. "I see you're enjoying my music. How'd that happen? You're not really the listening to music type…."

She shrugged. "It was an impulse. And I do enjoy listening to it."

He let the topic drop, mainly because she began setting the table. For once he decided to not be lazy and took over the task from her as she completed the last few stirs in the pot of rice and transferred the food to dishes they could put in the fridge later. In short order they were sitting at the table and he was enthusiastically digging into the sushi she'd prepared for him. It was good, and he found himself having no problems going back for seconds.

Unfortunately, one of the slices of fish somehow fell into his salad during transport, which caused him to spit a few nasty words as he fished it back out quickly. Without thinking about it he held it up and licked the vinegar off, not about to eat it with the seaweed dressing fucking up the taste of the fish. For good measure he gave the sliver of pink a little suck before popping it into his mouth. He almost missed the look on Maka's face, but at the last second caught it by accident right before she flushed and averted her eyes.

She'd been watching him… in a very interesting way. Now that he noticed it, he actually realized that it was a look he'd caught on her face before, usually when she watched him lick at ice cream or slurp some spaghetti off his face with his tongue. Actually, it was the same sort of fascinated stare she had begun to fix him with whenever he swallowed a soul. The looks had always struck him as weird. Just what did she find so interesting about his mouth? And why did that particular expression look so oddly familiar? Where had he seen it before?

Struck by curiosity, he decided to do some snooping for once. He wanted to know where that expression came from and why it had his gut clenching up tight with heat.

So, the next fish slice he took, he gave it an experimental lick, while keeping Maka in his peripheral to see if she'd look again. Sure enough, her eyes glanced back over, and that same expression stamped across her face, although this time she also looked a little confused…probably because he was eating his sushi so weirdly. Strictly for scientific purposes, he gave the piece of fish a few more licks and even a suck, noting how her eyes widened and seemed to stick to his mouth, before she almost harshly jerked them away with a frown.

He slurped that one down and thought about what he'd seen. She definitely had some sort of fascination with his mouth, there was no doubt about that, but what exactly was it that had her looking at him like that? It wasn't disgust…they had already covered that base thoroughly. Maybe she was still just curious? She had already expressed curiosity about it more than once. Then again, she'd gotten pretty acquainted with it lately, what with all the hickeys and kisses….

Suddenly something clicked in his head.

He had seen that expression on her face before, outside of food and eating…. he'd seen a similar look when she was watching him kiss, chew, and suck on her. It wasn't just interest, it was excitement and possibly even arousal.

It was different though when she watched him eat and consume souls, because that same expression was also mixed with curiosity. But what exactly she was curious about, he wasn't entirely sure. Just what was going on in that pretty head of hers?

Now he definitely wanted to know, so he decided to get the info by force if necessary.

The investigation started by him teasing her further, eating his sushi in a methodical way that required a whole lot of unnecessary tongue action, but he no longer watched her out of his peripheral. This time he looked right at her and waited. Sure enough, she glanced over at the – admittedly somewhat gross sounds – saw what his mouth was doing, got that look in her eyes, flushed, and then noticed how he was watching her. Instantly she jerked her eyes back down to stick to her plate and seemed to grit her teeth.

He figured this might take a while, so he rested his jaw lazily in one palm as he continued the activity, which was surprisingly a pretty good tongue work out. After a while, he upgraded to nibbling at the edges of each thoroughly tongue-cleaned piece with his sharp teeth, pulling his lips back just a little to expose the action. Every few minutes her eyes would flick up and then back down quickly.

Eventually though, it seemed she finally picked up on the fact that this wasn't normal.

For Maka, she just wasn't sure what the hell was going on with Soul. He was eating his fish in a highly inappropriate manner, one which she just couldn't help but pair with things other than food… body parts specifically. She already knew how his teeth and lips felt, and his tongue to some extent, on a large majority of her skin, but not in a few key spots that began to tingle a little at the thought. It was rude and unnecessary for them to input their opinion, but it wasn't something she could really control aside from trying to ignore it.

But the way he was eating his sushi was blatantly explicit and planted thoughts in her head that made her distinctly uncomfortable and itchy with heat…and her mind started spiraling into the gutter. Those sorts of thoughts led to others, and brought to mind the way she had currently been giving some serious thought into taking the next few steps with Soul in their physical relationship. Of course, the specific action that would most closely resemble what he was currently doing was off the table.

If she could just have sex with Soul without liking it _**too**_ much, then she'd be just fine and dandy. Enjoying herself would be fine, as long as it wasn't so much that she would lose control of her sensibilities. Of course, orgasming was out of the question.

Maybe she could get him off with her hands. It was a little embarrassing to consider, but she had to admit it was also very exciting. Strangely, those particular scenarios didn't seem to affect her negatively, even though technically she supposed they were just as "slutty" as anything else. But since she'd be able to maintain control through the situation, it was fine somehow. Plus, ever since feeling him against her backside, she just couldn't get those sorts of thoughts out of her mind. She had started to seriously want to see the parts of him she'd only glimpsed before.

Maybe she could trick him into it. Actually, he was a virgin too, so maybe he didn't know girls could orgasm. It was a bit of a stretch to hope for that though. Perhaps he would let her tie him up? That thought hit her like a punch to the gut, and she found herself glancing back up at a particularly loud slurp. Well, _**that**_ was one mental picture to put in her secret stash she got off too…much like what he was doing right now with his mouth.

These thoughts distracted her for a while, but after some time she realized that she still didn't know exactly why Soul was doing such strange things with his sushi…. Or why he was doing them so deliberately while staring at her so intensely. Enough was enough.

A small surge of irritation stung her in the butt. She sat up straighter and resolved herself to not stare at his mouth. Looking up, green eyes clashed with red, and she gave him a solid, stern look.

"Is there something wrong with the sushi?"

The piece he was currently messing with slid halfway into his mouth and with a rather aggressive click of his teeth it was neatly severed while the other half dangled from his fork.

"Nope. It's delicious."

"Then why are you eating it so strangely?" She put to him plainly, wanting a straightforward answer.

His brow cocked, and a small smirk curled the corner of his lips. "To figure out why you like to watch my mouth so much."

That was not what she'd been expecting. "Say what now?"

"Don't play innocent. You know exactly what I mean. You do it when I eat souls too. Why are you so curious about my mouth? What exactly interests you?"

Something got stuck in her throat and she had to cough and drink some water to clear it out. The water didn't really help, since the thing choking her up turned out to be her tongue, which she'd apparently discovered how to swallow.

"I don't…" The words trailed off when he arched his eyebrows incredulously. Apparently, there was no getting out of this one. "Er…"

"What's wrong? Did I leave the bookworm speechless?"

Under pressure, the best she could come up with was, "I just find the way you eat fascinating. That's all."

It was true, but far from the whole truth, and he knew it. "Obviously. But what about it is so fascinating?"

"Just…you know…your mouth is different, and your tongue does weird things…" She tried to keep her face straight and scrambled for something else to say that wasn't too see-through. "Uh, it's interesting to watch."

He hummed, watching her closely as he took another exceptionally deliberate bite, finishing that piece off, and then licked his lips.

"So…what about my tongue interests you?"

He was fishing for information that she wasn't super happy to give. Telling him that she wondered what his tongue would feel like between her legs would probably not be a smart move. It might give him some very bad ideas. Plus, it wasn't even a thought she had condoned her mind to entertain in the first place.

"It's just different."

He wasn't impressed. "Really? That's all you've got?"

When she didn't respond, he took up another piece of sushi and violated it with his mouth in such an explicit way that she could practically feel it. It was nearly impossible to keep her gaze locked to his eyes and away from his mouth, but she did. It didn't help too much though, because she could still clearly see what he was doing, and her face suddenly began to feel quite warm.

Eventually she was forced to avert her eyes. The wet sound of him swallowing it whole made her twitch and grimace.

"Are you sure your mind doesn't go somewhere else?"

She winced.

By this point, Soul had a good idea of just what she might be thinking about to get her so flustered. The thought of her considering oral sex with him was enough to drive him halfway mad. They'd already found out that he had something of an oral fixation when it came to her, so the thought of _**that**_ made him instantly hard. He barely even tasted the fish, and frankly wished it was her. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be quite happy to spend hours between her thighs if she'd let him.

However, it was also really hard for him to believe her mind would go there – considering how standoffish she could be. It was so out of character that he needed to hear it from her before he'd fully be certain of it… which was why he was pushing her so hard.

"Come on Maka, we're a couple, right? Shouldn't couples share?"

"I don't want to give you any ideas." She said, biting the words off sharply and getting up to dump her empty dishes into the sink.

He sucked up the last few pieces of sushi like a vacuum and quickly followed, fast enough that he caught her with her hands in the sink, filling it with soapy water and getting ready to do dishes. If she'd thought putting her back to him was going to end the conversation, she was wrong. As soon as his dishes joined hers and his hands were free, he planted them firmly on either side of her, effectively boxing her in. His front pressed to her back and he felt her tense up as his lips ghosted close to her ear.

"I already have plenty of ideas, Maka…" He whispered, shocked by how deep his own voice came out. It was undeniably sexy. Frankly he was a little proud of it.

She shivered, apparently affected by the tone, and he filed the nugget of info away for a later date.

"Well then, if you've got all these ideas already, why are you asking me?" She asked briskly.

"I'm not sure I'm right. So I want you to explain."

"And you're not satisfied with me just saying your mouth is fascinating?"

"No. You're gonna have to tell me why."

She groaned. "Why are you being so damn pushy and persistent all of a sudden?"

"Dunno. Maybe you woke up something new in me."

"Great. That's wonderful. All I need is a pushy Soul."

"If you don't like it, tell me to back off."

Right as she started to say something, he dipped his head to her neck and latched on… sucking, nibbling, licking - the works.

Her body arched into him. "Th-that's not fair…" She groaned, sounding irritated and aroused at the same time. It was a good combination in Soul's opinion.

"Talk to me, Maka…" He growled into her shoulder, a little high on power.

There was something so crazy hot about making his meister weak to his mouth. Maybe it was because she always wielded him, and when he touched her like this he felt like the roles were reversed… and loved every second of it. She seemed to have lost a little more of her precious control than usual, maybe because he took her by surprise, but he could feel her stiffening and getting herself together quickly.

"Why do _you_ think I find your mouth fascinating?" She countered.

Alright, he'd bite the dangling bait…and her too while he was at it. Taking some time to respond, he lightly sunk his teeth into her shoulder, over his mark, and sucked hard enough to give her a really good hickey. It was good she seemed to like a little pain with her pleasure, because she first tensed up and then sighed and relaxed into him.

Once he had her melting, he pulled back and decided to voice the thoughts he still couldn't really believe. "I think you picture my mouth on your skin." Just where this surge of confidence and sex drive came from, he wasn't sure. It was probably just bottled up desires that had suddenly fizzed and spewed inside him like a shaken soda.

His statement got a violent shiver from her and she sucked in her breath. She was obviously just as surprised as he was that these things were popping out of his mouth.

"Am I right?" He prompted when she didn't respond right away.

After a second, she jerkily nodded. "Yeah. Well. We already know I like your kisses." She grumbled, almost sounding pissy.

That was one thing confirmed, but it still left the "where" to be decided.

"So…just where do you imagine my mouth, to get you so flustered?"

Another explosive groan that mostly just sounded irritated burst from her lips. "Really? You're _really_ pushing it that far?"

"Yep." He popped his 'p' in her ear.

"Well 'nope.'" She countered, with her own popped consonant. "There's no way I'm telling you that. Your imagination is apparently pretty good. Use that."

As far as he was concerned, that was as good as a confession. Suddenly though, he wondered if knowing it for sure was such a good idea, because now he could hardly restrain himself from replacing the few dishes still on the table with her. He may push for information, but he wasn't going to push her for any kind of sex. That was just not cool.

He let her disengage from his hold, and reluctantly stepped back, realizing that he should probably put some distance between them until he had himself under better control.

"Well…thank you for the meal Maka…" He uttered, and once again was shocked by the husky nature of his voice, and the almost double-entendre.

Later that night, she was stuck thinking about the conversation they had engaged in during dinner. Once again her mind wandered, and she found herself pondering what it would be like to go further with him. Aside from just worrying about her own pleasure level and potentially losing control of the situation, she felt like she was ready to take the next few steps with Soul. In fact, she was getting to the point where she really wanted to do so.

Plus, with the big fight coming up, a whole new element had been added to the situation. There was no guarantee that they would survive the experience, and Maka felt more and more pressure to at least experience making love to Soul before potentially kicking the bucket.

The thoughts caused her to toss and turn into the small hours of the morning, until she determined that she would simply have to think about it over the course of the next few days and try to figure out what she wanted. One thing she knew for sure was that the last thing she should do was rush into such an important decision. For other people that might work out just fine, but for her it could result in some serious complications, and she didn't want to put Soul through any more of her drama.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Alright! Here you go, the new chapter, right on time! Getting so many reviews has really inspired me to try and make sure I get these chapters out on time. Speaking of, thank you everyone so much for all you're wonderful reviews!

You all made it past 5 reviews, so here's your sneak peek. :D

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 _Her nerves must have leaked, because as soon as they stepped inside the apartment, Soul turned to her and said, "Alright, what's got you so tense?"_

 _As always, she was surprised by how well he knew her. Most people would have just assumed she was scared about tomorrow and the threat of dealing with the Kishin… but not Soul. He knew it was something else entirely._

 _Maka was not exactly subtle by nature, she didn't really know how to go about this with any finesse. How exactly were you supposed to tell someone that you wanted to try having sex with them? It seemed like a very awkward request to make._

 _"We could die tomorrow." She blurted as an intro and then cringed a little, thinking to herself: oh yeah, that's romantic._


	29. Chapter 29

A few days passed, and finally they heard the news that Medusa had been defeated. Normally they would have held a celebratory party, but at the same time they'd received the news that an alliance had been struck with the witches. So, preparations were finally seriously underway to get ready for the attack on the moon.

Maka and Soul's short reprieve was now over, and they were fully involved in the war measures.

First of course, an airship had to be put together. Astonishingly, Lord Death actually had one, or part of one, tucked away somewhere. While that didn't exactly surprise Maka, it was still pretty amazing. Their engineers got on it right away, and they really kicked ass. How they managed to whip the thing together in just a week, Maka would never know. The base ship was outfitted with armor and canons, and on the last day the balloon was inflated. Of course, once airborne it had to be docked to the ground with a tie lead, which they did right in front of the Academy. As big as the DWMA buildings were, this thing seemed just as huge, and more impressive because it was in the air over them all.

A departure time had been agreed upon. The war plans had been drawn up, and everyone received their orders. Of course, all of Spartoi would be going, and they would be at the front lines - along with all the Death Scythes from across the world and their meisters.

Surprisingly Crona had also decided to go, much to everyone's absolute shock. As shy as he'd been lately, he was the last person any of them had expected to volunteer. Apparently, the death of his venomous mother proved to be the kick in the pants that he needed to get up and go. As for Maka…she had mixed feelings about it. Crona was undeniably a real bad-ass when he wanted to be, especially with Ragnarok, but he was also quite dear to her and she sometimes had a hard time remembering how tough he was. In everyday life he was such a shy, scared, demure person…it was hard to reconcile that with the power he wielded.

Still, it wasn't her decision to make and she didn't question him on why he chose to do it.

Naturally that entire week of preparation was laced with major tension, although it was somewhat dulled by being kept so insanely busy. Not to mention, there was a large distraction in the form of one very pissed Death Scythe who had suddenly – and comically late – discovered his sweet little girl's relationship. Maka had no idea how he had avoided finding out for so long, given that Stein certainly knew, all their friends and classmates knew, and even Lord Death knew. It just went to show how out of the loop Spirit really was when it came to Maka.

Frankly she had completely forgotten how dating Soul might pose a problem when it came to her father, at least up until their apartment door was knocked clean off its hinges one morning very early while she and Soul were eating a quick bowl of cereal. Neither of them were in the best of moods, given that they had stayed up late with war preparations and were planning on going right back to that task as soon as they had provided their bodies with some much needed nutrients. So, when the door crashed open and Spirit barged in, he was met with a deadly glare from Maka and a half-asleep grimace from Soul.

"Papa! What do you think you're doing?!" she screeched, standing from the table and placing her hands securely on her hips. Then added, "You broke our door!" as an important afterthought.

"I'm gonna kill you! You stupid little Octopus Head! What is this about you banging my daughter?!"

At that, both teens blinked, taken aback. Soul just grunted in disgust and went back to eating – in an extra sloppy manner given how exhausted he was. But Maka was truly bewildered.

"Why the heck are you bringing this up now?! We've been dating for _months_!"

That only seemed to make him madder. His words were still addressed to Soul, and he seemed to completely ignore her for once. "How dare you date my sweet little girl without asking for permission first?! Not that I would have ever given it!"

"Oi! Hello? Soul is asleep right now, you'd have better luck talking to me!" Maka announced, getting even more irritated.

At that her papa's head swung around and looked at her before he busted into tears and tried to tackle her. "Maaaaaka! How could you do this to your poor papa?!"

"I'm not doing anything to you. And again, why are you making such a big deal out of it now?" She neatly sidestepped him and crossed her arms, glaring down at him as he landed on the floor.

"I only just found out about it now! Why didn't you tell me?! I had to find out through Stein!"

She just arched an eyebrow pointedly. "…maybe because I knew this would happen?" she questioned rhetorically, gesturing at him and then at the door. "Besides, I thought by now you had to have found out through someone."

"No! You know how busy Papa has been lately with all the work for Lord Death! I've been out of town more often than not these past few months!"

"Well that's your problem. Now if you don't mind, Soul and I have work to do."

At the cue, her partner groaned, but dragged himself mostly upright and started slouching around the table towards her. He was intercepted though by a freshly enraged Spirit, who launched himself from the floor at him. Soul's shirt was fisted and Spirit shook him viciously as he let loose with a tirade of overprotective fatherliness.

"Do you even love her?! Huh?! Are you just after sex?! Are you two using protection?! If you get her pregnant, you better marry her you little bastard! Wait…no! You keep your dick to yourself! Don't you dare disrespect my little girl! And if you hurt her in any way, you won't _have_ a dick left after I'm through with you!"

Soul just flopped back and forth, keeping an utterly disinterested affect all over his face and posture – as if he was simply reading the newspaper. But Maka could tell he was starting to get ticked off, and when he managed to get a word in edgewise, he gave away his internal aggravation with a sharp edge to his tone.

"First of all, stop talkin' about my dick. It's not fucking cool man. Second, of _course_ I love her, Dumbass. And no, I wouldn't ever hurt her… that's _your_ job."

Maka's eyebrows shot up on her forehead at hearing Soul's comeback, never having expected him to stick up for her like that, or admit to her father that he loved her. Plus, the anger in his voice during that last cutting statement was both honest and intense, and was obviously seated in a place that was full of love for her and hated seeing anything hurt her. Thanks to their soul-deep connection, he knew exactly how deeply her father had hurt her…not to mention how it had affected their relationship. It was no wonder that Soul was pissed at her father.

It worked too, Spirit released him with a stricken expression, and Soul stalked by with a distinctly pissed set to his shoulders – despite his attempts to remain 'cool'. Maka hung back a moment to lay her hand on her father's shoulder, touched a little by just how guilty he suddenly looked.

"Look…Papa…that's all in the past. But Soul's telling the truth you know, he really does love me, and would never do anything to hurt me. And I love him. So…" - running out of things to say, she just heaved a sigh and patted his arm. "Just get over it would you? And don't break the door down again, or I'll have to Maka Chop you. We've got enough work to do right now without having to repair our apartment."

He mutely nodded, and his eyes were – for once – serious and made her feel like he had actually taken what she said to heart. Something about that expression told her that he had thankfully accepted their relationship, and hopefully wouldn't be such an ass about it all again.

"…okay. I'm sorry Maka." His voice was small and sad.

"Yeah, I know, Papa. It's okay." She smiled, and some of the tension eased from his shoulders.

After that fiasco, he had left, and when they returned that night their door had been mysteriously fixed, and the job had been done well.

During the rest of the war plans, Spirit made a point to drop by every now and then wherever Soul and Maka were. These little visits typically involved some posturing, but it was blatantly apparent that his threats directed at Soul had no heat to them anymore. He just yelled and insulted Soul, the way he always had, and pointedly asked him if he was taking care of Maka – and other inane, stupid things. It was irritating and made the gossiping and teasing from their friends worse, but in the long run Maka knew it was her father's way of – very awkwardly – expressing his love for her. So she basically ignored it.

The war efforts kept them plenty busy, and also kept their minds off the upcoming fight that they would all be engaged in…for the most part at least. Whether her father approved of her boyfriend or not was really the least of her concerns, all things considered.

They had supplies to gather, including all sorts of medical supplies like bandages, ointments, pain pills, and splints. Considering this might last longer than expected, there was a whole crew in charge of amassing unperishable food and other such necessities. Replacements for armor that had been damaged or broken were stocked, and all sorts of supplies for the warship itself were stored. They had patches for the balloon, material to fix any damages if they had to make an emergency landing, and all sorts of other giant pieces of cloth, metal, and wood.

Between that and strategy meetings, Maka and Soul – along with the rest of Spartoi – were completely wiped. At first they maintained relatively high spirits about the whole thing, but everyone quickly grew more somber the closer they got to completion. The less there was to do, the more time they had to contemplate just what it was they were preparing for, and naturally tension and anxiety followed. The very last day, all the preparations were finished early, and they were left with a full half-day to ready themselves as best they could.

So naturally it called for a big get together. Everyone crammed into Kid's large living room and partied like there was no tomorrow. They all drank just enough to get tipsy, but not so much that they would have problems tomorrow, stuffed themselves with party food and junk food and sugary sodas, and participated in various party activities, such as karaoke, dancing, games, and mingling.

Even Crona got a little tipsy and, to Maka's surprise, he ended up getting friendly with Kid. They'd been friendly acquaintances but not "friends" exactly, but that night they seemed to really strike up something. Even Ragnarok got in on the action, though at first he was gruff and rude as usual. However, when Kid saw him and started raving about how beautifully symmetrical he was, he seemed to warm up significantly. The little grouch was even easier to get along with after stuffing his belly with party food.

Patty and Liz also took a shine to Crona, probably because he was so easy to freak out and they enjoyed doing so. Black Star of course was the loudest party monger, and hijacked the karaoke machine for at least ten songs, all of which were off key and way too loud. Then he proceeded to park at the snack table and stuff himself. Tsubaki followed him along as usual.

As for Soul and Maka, they danced, and Maka even tried out the karaoke machine, though it quickly became apparent that she had no idea how to stay in key, much like she had no rhythm. And throughout the night they had to deal with teasing, as per usual, from their friends who still hadn't quite gotten over the fact that they were now a couple.

The rest of Spartoi were cutting up just as much, and it was one of the loudest most boisterous get togethers Maka had been to. But even though everyone appeared to be having fun, there was still an unspoken strain in all of them. It was practically tangible in the air. If fear had a flavor, the entire atmosphere tasted sour with it, even as they laughed and joked. Nobody had forgotten that they would be going up against the Kishin tomorrow…and probably a whole lot of unexpected badness as well. There was a high probability that the Kishin had surrounded himself with high level kishin eggs, which they would have to fight through to get to him.

People were going to die, that was the long and the short of it. And the ones who did survive might not do so in one piece. There would be no escaping this fight without heavy casualties. It was at the forefront of everyone's mind now that they weren't preoccupied with ship building and plan making and supply stocking. There was nothing to distract themselves with aside from this party, which explained why everyone was so loud and boisterous. Nobody wanted to focus on the fear.

But it was still there, and as soon as Soul and Maka left Kid's perfectly symmetrical house, it landed back down onto their shoulders full force … like a tornado touching down. Neither of them wanted to think it, but there was no telling if they would both come back from the moon after tomorrow.

On the way home, Maka forced her mind away from thoughts of tomorrow, and instead chose to contemplate her plans for the rest of the night.

This whole past week, she had been putting serious thought into hers and Soul's physical relationship and where she wanted to take it. Surprisingly, it hadn't taken too much time for her to decide that she wanted to go for it, but they simply hadn't had the time. So tonight, she was going to spend the night with Soul – not that she'd told him yet. To be honest, she didn't know if full-on sexual intercourse would happen, but she wanted to at least try for it.

Still…even though she had firmly made up her mind, the prospect of what would happen when they got home made her little tense and she hugged Soul tighter. It was perfectly normal to be a little nervous about her first time, and naturally it was a bit worse for her. Her nerves weren't going to hold her back, but they did make her belly tighten up and her mind go a mile a minute as she contemplated just what she was getting herself into. On the upside, with these new thoughts filling her head, she was quickly distracted from worrying about tomorrow and the battle plans.

Her nerves must have leaked, because as soon as they stepped inside the apartment, Soul turned to her and said, "Alright, what's got you so tense?"

As always, she was surprised by how well he knew her. Most people would have just assumed she was scared about tomorrow and the threat of dealing with the Kishin… but not Soul. He knew it was something else entirely.

Maka was not exactly subtle by nature, she didn't really know how to go about this with any finesse. How exactly were you supposed to tell someone that you wanted to try having sex with them? It seemed like a very awkward request to make.

"We could die tomorrow." She blurted as an intro and then cringed a little, thinking to herself: _oh yeah, that's romantic._

"Yeah, but we won't." Soul responded confidently.

"But we could. And it made me think."

"Okay…"

"I don't want to go into battle with any regrets. There's one thing I want to do before we go to war."

"Okay…" Soul just repeated, obviously wondering where this was going.

Changing tactics, she tried something else. "Isn't there anything you'd regret not doing if you died tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah I guess."

That wasn't helpful, so she decided to be blunt. "Do you want to die a virgin?"

His eyes popped open wide and his jaw dropped. He stared at her for a long moment, blinking as if she was too bright to look at or something. Finally, he managed to sputter, "Uh-um, no … but I also don't want to do it just because we're going to war."

Strangely, even though Soul was making things more difficult with that statement, it still made her heart flutter happily. It meant that he was taking sex with her seriously, and it was just another drop in a huge body of water that proved why he was right for her.

Still…she had to combat the statement.

"Well yeah. I mean if you don't have anyone…and you just grab some random stranger…but... it seems like a perfectly logical reason to take the plunge if you happen to be in a relationship where you love each other and want to."

"I guess…but I don't want to do anything you're not ready for."

"Soul, now is not the time to be a gentleman. I want to do this and you're making it difficult."

"I just don't want you to regret it after." He protested, scowling lightly.

"I won't. I promise. I've thought about it off and on for some time, and now…I really want to go for it."

After a moment, he finally nodded. "Okay…If you're sure."

There was a long awkward silence as they both thought, _okay now what?_

Finally Maka broke the silence. "Um…so…"

Soul seemed to snap out of the awkwardness, and cleared his throat. "Right."

Turning on his heel, he suddenly walked briskly into his room, leaving Maka staring at his back as he strode away from her. Wondering just what the heck he was doing, she followed curiously and poked her head into his room to see him fiddling with something on his dresser. Before she could ask just what the hell he was busy with, the sound of music suddenly played through the air. When he stepped back a little, she was able to see that he had been messing with his music player and speakers, which were now playing a soft lyrical melody. The main chords were piano, but there were some instruments that she couldn't quite place. It was surreal and achingly lovely and definitely set a romantic mood.

Still, she couldn't help but laugh, though it was a gentle one tempered by affection. It was so sweet that he was actually playing music, but there was still a definite cheese factor she couldn't help but be amused at.

"That's not really necessary you know." She teased lightly from the doorway.

He scowled at her. "It's totally necessary."

"Okay. If you say so." There wasn't really any point in contesting it.

There was another somewhat awkward moment as he stood in the middle of his room, hands shoved in his pockets, while she lingered in the doorway. Really, she'd be more nervous…. except it still didn't really feel real yet. She hadn't quite wrapped her mind around what they were about to do.

"So…you gonna come in or did you wanna just stay in the doorway all night?"

She jumped a little and then flushed, trying her best not to get perturbed. Biting her lip, she walked in the last few steps and closed the door behind her.

Soul's red eyes locked onto the door handle behind her. "Might wanna lock it. We don't want Blaire busting in here."

Just the thought of it had the hair raising up on her neck and she hurried to follow the suggestion. "Good idea."

After locking the door they were - once again - left in awkward silence. Tension was thick in the air, almost as loud as the music, as they both absorbed the enormity of the moment. It was still impossible for Maka to wrap her head around, but it was finally beginning to sink in. The tension quickly grew to be too much for her to handle. It took all of a minute for her to crack under the pressure, but it felt like an hour.

Out of pure instinct, she reached for Soul – not because she was dying to get into his pants or anything, but because it was simply the thing to do when she was uncomfortable. Reaching for him wasn't a request to get things started; it was merely a plea for comfort and to stop this stupid awkward tension that had built such a strange wall between them. He responded probably out of just as much instinct as her. It was second nature by now. She reached out her hand and he took it, stepping closer into her personal space.

Instantly she realized a large part of the discomfort had been that their souls had fallen out of sync with each other, and the normal low-level resonance that was almost constantly between them these days had broken. That was immediately resolved once their fingers laced together, and a wave of relief eased the tension from her body. This was normal, safe, comfortable, and she was sharply reminded that it was just Soul.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

Of course she was still a little nervous, but the building knot in her stomach relaxed significantly. With a sigh, she relaxed into him and untangled their fingers so that she could wrap her arms around his waist instead. He reciprocated, embracing her around her shoulders and tucking her further into the curve of his body. They fit perfectly together, her shorter stature fitting snugly into the space created by his perpetual slouch.

The hug lasted a long time as they both just stood there and absorbed the other's presence. Despite his seemingly lazy posture, his body was very much tense and exposed that she wasn't the only one nervous about this. Somehow that made her feel a little better, to know she wasn't the only one. They were in the same boat together - one that was about to be caught in a pretty big storm possibly.

After a while, almost unconsciously they began to rock a little to the music – not dancing, but just moving in sort of a soothing way. Neither of them really noticed though.

Soul's hand made its way up her neck to her scalp and he tugged her pigtails free so he could thread his fingers through her hair.

"You sure about this? You seem awfully tense." He mumbled after some time.

"Yeah. So are you."

He shrugged but didn't deny it, which was somewhat surprising. She'd expected him to say something about cool guys not getting nervous over sex.

There was another moment of silence, and then she wiggled her arms out from under his and up between their bodies so she could loop them over his neck as she tilted back a little to look up at him. She played absentmindedly with the fluffy white hair at the nape of his neck as she asked, "Do you think it's dumb for me to be so…fidgety about it?"

A white eyebrow cocked. "Fidgety?"

"Yeah, you know…nervous and stuff." She could see the words forming before they escaped his lips and she cut him off. "And no, I don't want to wait. I've made up my mind, Soul. I want to do this. I'm just a little nervous about it."

He blinked, absorbing that information. "No. I don't think it's dumb."

As he spoke, she trailed her fingers from behind his neck and started tracing his features, distracting herself a bit on purpose. While she was at it, she tucked her fingers under his headband and tugged it off, leaving his hair sticking up a little and messy. So she combed it back down to its normal semblance of controlled chaos. With her hands in his hair it seemed a natural progression to tug him down into a kiss.

Kissing certainly helped to further distract her. In the back of her mind was still the looming knowledge of what was going to happen, but she shoved it down so she could just focus on the current situation. As usual, she got caught up in the kiss, while still maintaining that little bit of control over herself that let her know she could pull away if she really wanted to. By this point she didn't even notice it anymore; it was purely habit to keep a certain distance.

Soul, however, noticed. He always did.

To him, it was obvious in the way she held herself: the slightest space she kept between their bodies, the tiny bit of steel in her backbone that prevented her from molding herself to him. If he didn't know her so well he wouldn't have noticed at all. But it was always there, and he had picked up on it pretty quick. Frankly it drove him a little mad. It was even more aggravating now that he knew what she was like without that self-control…thanks to that one incident with Stein's drug.

However, he knew that she probably wouldn't completely relax at all during the activities tonight. It was their first time after all, and even he was nervous. It wasn't like he could blame her for being tense about it all, when he was as well. Of course their concerns about tonight were probably hugely different – his mainly being that he would perform badly or fuck it up somehow. There was a high probability of any number of things going wrong, but right then and there he decided if he fucked it up they'd just wait a bit and then go again. They had the whole night to do this, although they should probably also get some sort of sleep…maybe.

He decided to aim for making her relax and enjoy herself as much as possible. It might be a pipe dream this early into the game, but hopefully trying for it would result in her enjoying herself more than if he just let things go entirely her way. Because he knew good and well that if she let him, she would probably let this all be about his pleasure and take absolutely none for herself. And so, with that goal in mind, he didn't hesitate to deepen their kiss.

Shortly after they had first started kissing, he'd realized just how thankful he should be for having such a long tongue, because there were some spots he would not have been able to reach with one as short as hers. It still amazed him how much she seemed to like it when he tongued the roof of her mouth all the way back, almost to the point of where her gag reflex would set in – which had quickly been established as a place he did not go. And of course having a long tongue also gave him plenty of leverage to tangle his tongue with hers as well.

As he did the things he knew she liked, her body relaxed further against his, and he used his hands on her lower back to press her right up against him. She let him, but there was still that stiffness in her spine he couldn't seem to get to leave. Well, it was still a bit too early for that to go away. He would have been surprised if it was that easy. They had done a lot more than kiss before, and he hadn't ever been able to get her to relax all the way. They'd have to go a lot further before he had any hope of that.

So thinking, he decided that it was time to ramp things up a bit and his hands slipped up under her shirt in the back, testing the waters. She tensed a little, but didn't seem too perturbed by it, so he took that as permission to drag it up.

The kiss had distracted Maka pretty thoroughly, but things clarified again quickly when Soul started hauling her shirt up over her head. She assisted when it got hung around her neck and it got tossed off into the corner of the room somewhere. Being shirtless wasn't exactly new, but the start of the disrobing process did remind her of exactly where this was going, and she was helpless to prevent herself from getting a little tense again. A ball of tightness was twisting in her lower gut - a mix of both anxiety and excitement - and it cranked even tighter as she felt the cool air of the room assault her freshly exposed skin.

Acting almost on autopilot, she yanked at Soul's shirt as well, feeling it was unfair for her to be the only one uncovered here. It wasn't an action that she thought through first – which she somewhat regretted afterwards because the removal of another article of clothing only ramped her up more and made her feel more fidgety and antsy. Her arms crossed over her chest tightly, not really to hide anything but in an expression of the tension coiling ever tighter within her.

Soul could obviously sense the change in her, because his hands gently locked over her forearms and tugged on them. "Hey, chill. It's just me remember?"

She let him pull her arms apart and wrap them around his neck as he stepped in between them. His palms smoothed down her arms once they were around his neck again. Warm hands slid up and down her back soothingly then, and she slowly unclenched again. This was going to be a roller-coaster, she could already tell. It was a good thing Soul was really talented at dialing her anxiety back down to a manageable level, otherwise this might have been impossible.

With a sigh, she initiated another kiss, going up on tiptoe and pressing her lips to his firmly. It was a declaration that she was fine again and not to worry about her. The slight tension in his body relaxed again.

Kissing she could thoroughly enjoy without worry, so she threw herself into it. He responded with as much vigor as her, and soon they had to be careful not to cut her with his sharp teeth as the pressure increased. His tongue was once again in her mouth and rubbing up against hers in that way that made her realize how sensitive her tongue and the insides of her mouth was. She'd have never thought the human mouth was quite so receptive to touch, but with Soul's talented tongue hers certainly was. She could easily get lost in the pleasurable sensations, but held herself back through force of will. It was less subconscious now, and she had to actively control herself as more heat was added to the mixed tension in her belly.

Still, she was out of breath by the time they parted again, and she gasped in a few breaths of air to try and replenish the tanks quickly. Soul did the same, and threw in a small slurp for good measure as drool tried to escape his bottom lip. Kisses with him were always quite wet, though he had gotten better about it with practice.

Right about this time, it seemed the bed became a magnet for their eyes, and Maka found herself glance at it somewhat nervously. Was it time to move to a more horizontal position? It shouldn't be a big deal, they'd kissed on the bed before, but this time was different. Somewhat sardonically, she thought to herself that, _"it's different this time,"_ seemed to be the theme of this little adventure so far.

Sensing her rising nerves, Soul turned them so his back was facing the bed and then sat, leaving her to step into the space between his thighs. She now found herself much taller than him, which was a novel experience. He had just put her in the position of control and power without a second thought, and she instantly felt her heart melt just a little more thoroughly into a puddle of goo.

Without thinking, her fingers found his silky white hair and he tilted his head back to look up at her, his eyes half-mast and lazy with pleasure. Maka wasn't sure she'd ever seen him look quite like this before, or had ever seen his eyes quite so intense. It was a good look for him. Still, she limited the staring because it would probably turn into another awkward moment if given the chance. So, instead she dipped down to give him a somewhat chaste kiss. It was a silent 'thank you' for being so patient.

When she parted from him though, his lips didn't leave her skin and instead trailed down over her chin and found their way to her neck. With their current height difference, he was level with her chest, so his lips made their way there, skirting the edge of her bra. Unsurprisingly she soon felt suction and then the threat of sharp teeth which she knew wouldn't do any damage aside from a few accidental punctures here and there.

With a sigh she draped her arms over his shoulders and leaned into the caresses of tongue, lips, and teeth as they traveled across her entire chest area around her bra. Every now and then he would suck hard to leave a mark, or a sharp nip would make her jump. It felt good and she let herself relax somewhat into the sensation, even closing her eyes as she enjoyed it. Her fingers once again made their way into his hair and she absentmindedly threaded her fingers through it, twisting and tugging occasionally while her blunt nails gently scratched at his scalp in the way she knew he liked.

Expectedly he let out a few low hums of approval. They were barely audible, but the vibrations purred against her skin.

Everything was just fine and dandy, up until his lips suddenly found one nipple through her bra. She jumped, even though the sensation was muted through the material – but when his teeth came into the equation, abruptly the padding didn't do diddly squat. He didn't bite hard, not enough to hurt really, just enough to give her a little pinch. In actuality, it felt pretty damn good, which is what concerned her the most.

Her breasts were pretty sensitive, and she wasn't entirely sure that she'd be able to maintain her control if he messed with them too much. It was a disconcerting thought. She supposed she couldn't expect him to avoid her nipples this time around, so she should probably get used to it, but it definitely ramped up her nerves to a solid three on the scale of ten – where ten was a full-blown panic attack.

He didn't give her too much time to think about it though, because he'd felt her tense and shifted his mouth to the side where he gave her a sharp bite on the inner curve of one breast.

The sting shocked her out of her temporary funk, and she flinched, hissing at him with slight irritation, "Soul! That's a little rough."

She accompanied the statement with a yank on his hair in retribution. He just rolled his eyes up to stare at her as the pressure from his teeth eased up ever so slightly.

While she was preoccupied by that, his fingers were surreptitiously busy on her back – a fact she was only aware of when her bra suddenly went slack. At that point she couldn't quite control the squeak that escaped her as his teeth released her breast only to latch onto the center of her bra and tug it off. When he unclenched his jaw it fell away, and somewhat hesitantly she removed her hands from his head to let it drop off her arms.

Now they were both completely topless, and they spent a moment staring at each other and sizing up the situation. He'd seen her naked chest before, so that didn't concern her – although it still felt a little weird to be sure. But when his gaze landed on her chest and his mouth once again found her skin she definitely felt a buzz in the mixture of anticipation and nerves that wound tight in her belly. Her skin prickled with unease and she shivered with both pleasure and tension as he latched onto the curve of one breast and chewed on her contentedly. Come morning she was going to be positively covered in hickeys if this kept up.

It was inevitable that he would find the peaks of her breasts sooner or later, so when he did she prevented herself from flinching – but only barely. Her muscles still tightened and she sucked in a sharp breath and held it. It took her a moment to assimilate the sensation and even begin to try and figure out how to control her reaction. Warm and wet, lips and tongue teased first one nipple and then the other before sucking and nibbling them and she had to put everything on lockdown to prevent herself from squirming.

Zaps of pleasure assaulted her system and went straight to her core, making everything in that general vicinity tingle and throb in a disconcerting manner that she wasn't entirely comfortable with. She recognized the sensations well enough from masturbating, and knew that she was getting more aroused than she'd ever been around Soul. Logically, this was a good thing, because lubrication was certainly necessary for sex, but somehow it was hard to convince herself of this fact. It felt too good and made it harder to keep any sort of control over herself, but she held herself stiff through force of will.

For Soul, this was a little frustrating, but mostly he was just happy that he got to play with her nipples for the first time. Plus – even with her being all stiff – he knew that this was definitely giving her pleasure, which was a huge ego boost. Their souls were still synchronized, so he could feel hints of her arousal through that link and knew he was getting to her. Even without that, every line of her body read 'strained.' It was easy to see that she was holding herself back, and the fact that she had to tense up so much meant that it was getting harder for her to do it.

He had no problems keeping this up. After all, he was enjoying himself thoroughly as his oral fixation got a really fantastic fix playing with her nipples. Her skin was so soft on her chest and that was always fun to chew on, but the peaks were even more interesting to play with. They were just the perfect size and shape to latch onto and suck, and he really had to resist the urge to nibble. Over her bra had been fine, but with bare skin he was concerned it would hurt her. They seemed pretty fucking sensitive, so it probably wasn't a good idea to get frisky with his shark teeth in this particular situation. He was plenty satisfied with using just tongue and lips though.

Amusingly, when he glanced up he noticed that her face was flushed, probably with both pleasure and discomfort and maybe even strain. He wondered just how red he could get her skin to turn. To be honest, it was sexy as fuck, as were her nails biting into his skin. He doubted she was even aware of the death grip she had on his shoulders, but she'd know soon enough. There was no doubt in his mind that she'd be leaving marks, and he was just fine with that. He was already aroused enough that he didn't feel the pain he should, and the sting he did feel only ramped him up more.

His palms smoothed down her spine and arched her into his mouth for a while, before then traveling down to her hips where he latched on. He could feel the muscles working, twitching and straining, and subtle shifts alerted him to the fact that she probably wanted to be moving her hips right now but was restraining the urge. The knowledge made him chuckle, which came out as a throaty hum against her. Apparently, the vibration did something because she twitched ever so slightly and sucked in her breath again. Duly noted. A few interesting ideas popped into his head for further use.

His grip on her hips shifted and he trailed his thumbs up and down her hipbones over her skirt, pressing them down and closer to her pelvis with every pass. She quivered, and an answering tremor seemed to shake him from the inside out. His nerves had spiked a little again, and he still found himself unable to believe it was really happening, even with her nipple in his mouth and his hands on her hips. Everything within him was tense and shaking with both nerves and giddiness, while his arousal was running so hot that it felt like he was going to pop.

On Maka's side of things, she was reaching a threshold of tolerance. This time though, it was simply the fact that her nipples were getting sore and needed a little break. So, after a few more long moments, she managed to mutter, "Um…Soul? Getting a little sore…"

He let go of her with a pop and drew back, blinking up at her with some surprise making his cloudy eyes bright. "Really? No shit, I didn't know they could get sore."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course they do. If you sucked on my finger long enough it would probably get sore too, and my nipples are a hundred times more sensitive than that."

How she managed coherent speech while her lady parts screamed at her and her legs threatened to give out and her breath struggled to happen properly, she didn't quite know. Frankly, she found it an impressive feat.

"Oh. Good point." He hummed, and then a mischievous expression flickered over his features.

Before she could ask him what he was planning, suddenly she was being toppled over to land on top of him as he fell back into the bed without warning. She yelped, landing with an, _"oof,"_ and doing her very best not to do something damaging – like elbow him in the stomach.

As their bodies came into direct, intimate contact, she became instantly aware of how excited he was as his dick poked her somewhat harshly in the stomach. With a bit of squirming, she managed to prop herself up to stare down at him somewhat incredulously. It was difficult to do with her legs dangling off the edge though, and it was at that point that she realized they probably should relocate to the center of the bed instead of the edge.

"Come on, this is awkward. Move it, Soul." She grunted as she started clumsily working her way up the mattress.

He complied, and after a good minute of uncoordinated squirming and tangled limbs, they finally found themselves situated properly. Sitting up, Maka straddled one of his legs and stared down at him, laid out and messy beneath her. He had bedhead now and his mop flopped into his eyes, which she found oddly attractive. Meanwhile, his pants rode dangerously low and a bit crooked on his hips after struggling to get up the bed.

And once again, they found themselves frozen in an awkward, _"what now?"_ moment.

It was after a few seconds of staring blankly at him that Maka realized she had an excellent view of his erection. It was somewhat constrained by his jeans – which must be uncomfortable, she realized rather suddenly – and an unexpected thought popped into her head. She'd never actually touched him or investigated him or really even seen him the way she'd been so curious about lately. This was the perfect opportunity to remedy that, and if she was lucky, perhaps she'd be able to take control of the situation and prevent him from touching her in ways that drove her nuts like before.

Her normal level of confidence returned somewhat, and she found it surprisingly easy to reach for the button of his jeans.

As for Soul, he was shocked by how their positions had been so quickly reversed. A shot of renewed nerves stung his spine as it zipped from head to toe when she latched onto his jeans button and undid it. He guessed it was only natural for a guy to be nervous about the girl they loved getting a good look at their dick for the first time. What if she didn't like it? And in Maka's case, what if it actually grossed her out?

He was understandably tense as she dragged the zipper down, but refused to protest because it was better to get this over with sooner rather than later in his opinion. He also did his best to hide the anxiety flooding him currently, but couldn't quite help the wince as she unceremoniously dragged his pants down his legs. Although, the action did require her to perform some rather impressive contortions that did a lot to distract his already incredibly horny mind. He was stuck between anxious and turned on. It kinda sucked, but was kinda awesome at the same time, and he couldn't quite decide if he loved or hated the feeling. It was all so thrilling, and adrenaline was rushing through his body faster than he'd ever risk driving on his motorcycle.

Now that he was just in his underwear, Maka found it quite simple to tug on the elastic and free his dick, but not before looking him dead in the eye and asking point blank, "Is this alright?"

"Yeah. Sure. No problem." At the third agreement he cut himself off because with each one he exposed a little more of his nerves.

Her confident expression wavered just a little before she seemed to steel herself and tugged firmly down on the waistband until he popped out, bobbing a little in an embarrassing way. Her green eyes went wide, shocked obviously, and she sucked in her breath a little. For a moment he was truly worried that she'd bolt, but the surprise in her eyes was quickly replaced by something else … something that had his gut tightening with a feeling kind of like trepidation combined with a healthy dose of pure lust.

She was curious, and judging by her full-blown pupils it seemed that she liked what she saw, much to his relief. After a second of blatant staring, she cleared her throat and asked in a voice huskier than before. "Can I … touch?"

Not trusting his own voice he just nodded, and then restrained a few noises and cusses as her hand grabbed hold. This put a whole new meaning to her wielding his…hilt. Not that the thought hadn't humorously crossed his mind before – he was a guy and his brain constantly made trips to the gutter – but the actuality of it was so much more intense than he would have expected. It really was like she was wielding him, because his body was absolutely at the mercy of her strong grip as she eased her whole hand around him and felt him up.

He was helpless to stop himself from bucking up into her palm, just a little, and felt her hand tighten spastically and then jerk as if she was going to release him. At the threat of her hand being taken away from him, he froze and tried to talk his muscles into lockdown mode.

For Maka, the experience was surprising on a lot of levels.

She hadn't expected him to be quite so responsive to her touch. He couldn't seem to stop himself from flexing his hips up ever so slightly now and again as she explored, and every muscle in his body tensed as if to try and stay still. Perhaps he was afraid that he'd scare her off if he moved, she wasn't quite sure. His expression seemed pained almost, with tightly closed eyes and a tense neck as he turned his head sharply to the side, but she could clearly sense his pleasure loud and clear across their soul link.

Another shocker was the way he felt in her hand. The skin was silky, much softer than she'd expect, while the steel flesh under it was much harder than she'd expected as well. How this could ever be flaccid was beyond her. It seemed impossible to merely be the work of blood engorging tissues.

What shouldn't have been surprising, was how quickly she seemed to understand how his penis worked and how to rub it in such a way that he simply couldn't hold still. She'd handled his steel body plenty, and this wasn't too different from that – while at the same time being worlds different – but still, her hands were strong and nimble, and it was easy for her to use as much force or speed as necessary. Of course she first started out by just poking and prodding and grabbing and exploring out of pure curiosity, but that very quickly led to her wanting to figure out how to work it…and that led to her rubbing her hand up and down the length, which he seemed to like quite a bit. She was quick to perceive what he liked, and simply followed the blatantly obvious signs.

At first her rhythm was thrown off whenever he kicked in her hand - the hard flesh shockingly jerking and pulsing in a way she certainly hadn't ever been told about - but she soon grew accustomed to it and was able to use it as cues for what felt good.

As for Soul, he was having both a wonderful and terrible time. It all felt absolutely fantastic, but he could quickly feel himself getting close to cumming…. which definitely wasn't something he wanted to do this soon. There wasn't much he could do about it though, because Maka apparently had magical hands and he had no willpower to stop them. However, as his balls drew up tight and he felt the burning sensation that warned of impending explosion start to kick him low in the gut, he tried his very best to stop her.

"M-Maka…ah…you gotta…stop…I'm gonna…gonna… _shit_ …" His eyes squeezed tight and he both hissed and groaned as his body arched under her.

Either she didn't get the memo, or she didn't care, because she didn't stop. And that was the end of that. With a feeling like fire shooting from his tailbone to the tip of his dick, he came and had absolutely no control over it at all.

Like everything else about this situation, it was a shocker for Maka. She knew he was close, he had plainly warned her, but she just hadn't realized how close. So when his whole body tensed up and bucked once before freezing, and he cussed long and low, she was taken a little off guard. What really surprised her though, was of course what happened in her fist. Those pulses from before suddenly increased, became rhythmic, and with each jerk he came onto both his stomach and her hand. She knew what semen was, but hadn't known what it looked like, and frankly she found it a little gross. Still…even though the sticky goo was messy, it meant that he had just orgasmed – which kind of made it sexy.

She definitely wanted to clean it off her hand though.

At this point, she didn't really know how to feel. On the one hand she was absolutely stoked, because she'd just made him orgasm and it was the best feeling ever. There was pride and pleasure and happiness in knowing that she had made him feel good. At the same time though, it probably meant that it was the end of their sexual encounter, and she wasn't sure how to feel about that. She was both relieved and also disappointed. Probably neither of those would go over well with him though, so she masked the feelings and matter-of-factly grabbed a tissue off his nightstand to wipe her hand with, after throwing a few on his stomach for him to wipe up.

He muttered, "thanks," and quickly mopped up his mess, while she busied herself with her hand. And then they were left in somewhat uncomfortable silence.

After a moment, Maka shifted and somewhat awkwardly asked, "So, uh…do you mind if I stay? I'd like to sleep with you tonight, if that's okay…"

His eyes opened, and he stared at her somewhat unfocusedly for a second before it seemed he processed her question. Then he scowled. "Well yeah. Duh. But we aren't going to sleep yet."

"It looks like you are." She pointed out, which was true because he had gone limp and his eyes had rolled up into the back of his head prior to her question.

Sharp teeth were bared in her direction in a short grimace and then he was grumbling, "No. I'm just resting a moment. Let me catch my breath and we'll do some more stuff."

"Uh…I don't really see the point. I mean you're done, aren't you?"

That got a scoff. "For like thirty minutes maybe. But that doesn't mean I don't wanna kiss and touch you in the meantime."

This was going somewhere she wasn't sure she liked. If he wasn't going to get it up for thirty minutes, but wanted to touch her during that time, then all his focus would be on her. Plus, it would be harder for her to distract him. That was precisely the sort of thing she would like to avoid.

"Um…that's okay. How about we just wait until you've recovered?"

He just shrugged, and then he did a half sit-up and managed to snag her around the waist before hauling her down to lie on his chest.

"Hey, what the…" she protested, but allowed herself to flop on top of him nevertheless.

They stayed like that for a long moment as Soul's breathing returned to normal. His perspective on what just happened was similar to Maka's – in the sense that he couldn't really make up his mind on how to feel about it. On the one hand…the girl he loved had just jerked him off for the first time, so that was pretty fucking cool. Still, tonight wasn't necessarily about that, and that put this little event into the dangerous territory of premature ejaculation, which was the very definition of not cool. Somehow though, with the afterglow still making everything a bit fuzzy, he couldn't bring himself to care too much, aside from mild embarrassment.

It didn't really matter anyways, because he already planned to do more stuff with her, so it wasn't like he'd cut their evening off short or anything. He had no doubts he'd be able to get it up again pretty quick, considering this was their first time together and he was really damn excited about it. Even just thinking about it now was having a hot pulse start to beat again low in his gut, even if his dick wasn't quite ready yet to set up a full mast again so soon. It tried though, but even half-mast was a bit of a stretch.

The sensation of Maka's small breasts pressed into his chest certainly did nothing to dull his remounting excitement, and as she shifted he got the urge to restart activities. He was still sluggish, but that didn't stop him from raising a hand to her head and start fingering her soft hair – all the while firmly ignoring the fact that his hand was still unsteady. Petting her head got a soft hum from her, and after some more of that he tangled his fingers in her hair and gave some gentle tugs to direct her face up. With a grunt, she looked up at him and he slid his palm down to cup her cheek. The tips of his fingers hooked over the back of her skull and he used that grip to gently tug her up to him so he could kiss her without getting a nasty-ass crick in his neck. It required a little bit of ungraceful shimmying on her part to scoot up his body – but he certainly wasn't going to complain about it…not when it smooshed her boobs all over his chest in interesting ways.

He showed his appreciation of her effort by giving her soft kisses, which she accepted with a sigh, and her body relaxed on top of his. All her weight rested on him, but she was pretty light. With her tiny narrow frame, it was a no brainer…though she was heavier than she looked since she was solid freakin' muscle. Even so, he had no problem with her body going lax on top of his. In fact, the pressure of her body weight was both exciting and soothing, and had all sorts of caffeinated butterflies doing weird shit in his gut.

By this point he had no problems initiating a heavier kiss. His hips even rolled up into hers without his permission – mainly because he hadn't been paying attention to them since he'd thought his lower body was still checked out. Apparently not though, because right around the time he got his tongue in her mouth, his dick decided that making out served as an alarm clock and woke up again – slowly but steadily. He shouldn't be all that shocked, but the speed of it still took him by surprise. Maka was definitely fuel to the fire in his body, and he had no hope of putting it out anytime soon.

That was fantastic, because it meant he didn't have to wait at all to get busy with her again, and he didn't waste any time. Through their soul sync he could still feel heat from her, though it had definitely died down a good bit from the little break. So his first order of business was to get her hot again, and he set to it with gusto. Making out was number one on his agenda. Their kiss turned hotter by the second as he ramped up the intensity on it, doing all the things he knew aroused her, and soon he had her fully on board again.

The break had annoyingly set her back though into her stand-offish control mode – not that she'd ever fully left it – so he had some more work to do. There was no doubt that she'd get perturbed if he rolled them over, so instead he pushed them up into a sitting position, which dumped her into his lap. One leg got stuck awkwardly between them, so he pulled back a second and helped her relocate it by hooking a forearm under her knee. Soon she was straddling him and predictably she kept her weight on her knees, which put her in a position of control – instead of sitting on him and letting him take her full weight.

That was fine, but it did mean he had to crank his neck back to kiss her, since she was once again taller than him. On the upside, it meant he had plenty of room to play with her, and his hands eagerly slid up her sides, testing the subtle curve of her hips and waist. Because she was all muscle, her shape was more slender than curvy – which probably also had to do with her body type as well – but he thoroughly enjoyed the feel of her lean body under his hands. She was so graceful and fucking gorgeous, he could barely believe that she was his.

His palms slid over her sides a few more times, then made a slight detour to her stomach, and he enjoyed bumping his fingers over her abs, which were probably much more defined than his. It made sense, she did a lot more physical stuff than him. The muscles under his hands quivered a little as he touched them, but not really in a response to ticklishness that he could tell. Of course most of his concentration was in the kiss, so he didn't really know for sure. More of that brainpower got moved to his hands though when they traveled up to her boobs.

She flinched big time when he started playing with her nipples, which he had expected, so he made sure to ramp up the kiss to help distract her somewhat. Or maybe that made it more difficult for her, he honestly didn't know. Once again, he felt her nails bite into his skin, and he just couldn't resist grinning into the kiss. Really, the fact that Maka got rough when she was trying to keep her composure didn't surprise him at all. In fact, he would bet anything that if he could get her to lose control she'd leave him with scratches and probably bruises the following day. She was the owner of the infamous MAKA CHOP after all.

The prospect of getting beat up in this particular context didn't bother him at all.

It wasn't long before he was pulling his mouth away from hers and was traveling down her neck towards her chest. His hands left her boobs and – remembering how things had gone previously – he gave her nips a short break while his mouth busied itself giving her some more serious hickeys on her collarbones and upper chest. He didn't want to make her sore again.

Since his hands were free now, he moved them to her hips and pulled her against him, which didn't do too much since she was still elevated onto her knees, but it did press her pubic bone into his stomach. That was pretty hot, despite not being in direct contact with her center. Speaking of hips and junk, he made a quick trip down to his own crotch with one hand to fix the situation there and popped the waistband of his boxers back into place on his belly. Something about waving his dick around over the top of his underpants felt a little uncool. It also might have whapped Maka's thigh and distracted her from what he was trying to do.

If he was going to get her to unclench a little, he was going to have to play this really carefully. Things had to go slow, but not too slow, and there couldn't be any unexpected dicks thrown into the mix when she wasn't expecting it. That could definitely throw her off.

As soon as things down south were back in order, he attempted to multitask even more, and moved his mouth south while his free hand moved north. One palm stayed firmly locked onto her hip, while the other landed on her thigh below her skirt line. Since she tensed up, he kept it there and focused more on his mouth – which wasn't any problem for him since he was in candy land. If there was something in that stupid game that had to do with gumdrops and mountains he was there and thoroughly enjoying the stay. As before, Maka jumped when he latched onto her nips, and he didn't think he'd ever get tired of it. Making her flinch like that was one of the best things ever in his opinion. The little squeaks and yelps she made whenever he really shocked her were also pretty fucking awesome.

His tough meister was not a squeaker. There was nothing particularly mouse-like about her. Even when she was afraid, it came out in a fierce way. So to be able to get such high-pitched sounds from her was absolutely golden – not that she made them often. In fact, mostly she just breathed. The sounds that he got from her were generally gasps or huffs of air, so he had to judge what he was doing by that soundtrack. It didn't exactly make things super easy, but if he combined those subtle cues with the – just as subtle – hints from her tense body, plus the input he got from their soul sync, he got a decent picture of what she liked.

As soon as she seemed to accept his mouth on her boobs, he shifted some attention back to his hand and started moving it up at a snail's pace. Her thigh twitched as he skimmed his palm up it, dipping under her skirt and finally getting up to her panty line. He went for her butt, because he knew that didn't particularly bother her. It seemed like pretty neutral ground oddly enough. It was anything but neutral for him though, because grabbing her ass was definitely one of his favorite things to do, and he fully enjoyed kneading one cheek as he tongued her entire chest area. To make sure he didn't make her sore again, he moved around a little more this time, and while he still focused largely on her nips, he gave them regular breaks to kiss, nibble, lick, and suck on the rest of her chest - which she seemed to like.

His other hand joined the party and grabbed her behind over her skirt, and he dedicated himself to giving her a thorough massage. Her butt muscles were tight enough that she probably needed one. While he was at it, he traveled around a bit and got her thighs and lower back too, using firmer touches which seemed to help relax her and get her used to his hands. It was a trick he'd found out a while back. It was fun for him too, because it meant he got to grope and feel her up in a way he'd been dying to do for years.

After a while, he moved his fingers to the zipper of her skirt and gave it an experimental tug, mumbling into her sternum, "Can I take this off?"

He waited until she had said, "Uh…sure." And then he eagerly yanked on the zipper and her skirt fell down her thighs. It took some awkward repositioning and moving around to get the thing off, and by the time they were done with it he'd managed to get her to actually sit on his lap. That opened up a whole new load of possibilities, but first he had to get her used to his dick being in contact with her there. Until her stiff frame eased up again, he stayed perfectly still.

For Maka, she quickly found herself in a stiff, frozen position as she landed solidly on Soul's crotch with her own. Things ground to a complete halt and they both stayed still, as thankfully, Soul picked up on her sudden increase in tension. It wasn't that big a deal, but it was definitely a bit of a shocker for her system. Assimilating the new sensation and the knowledge of what was where took a few moments. Thankfully she didn't have any problems with Soul's dick at all, so it didn't take too long for her to get used to it. Even if it was pressed up against her crotch.

Mostly it was just uncomfortable, since it was a hard ridge pressed up against her with a good amount of pressure. So, she readjusted herself to get more comfortable, and that had Soul hissing and cussing, and his hips did a few interesting things in response. Obviously she'd have to be careful about how she moved. It definitely triggered him to resume attentions with hands and mouth, and she couldn't quite help but wince as he resumed the maddening affections he'd been laying on her for minutes now. At least he was being gentle enough that her nipples didn't get sore, but still…it was far too arousing and pleasurable for her peace of mind. Under this sort of duress, she was having a really impossible time keeping herself in control of her body and the situation.

A new problem quickly presented itself, because now she had pressure against the parts of her which were most affected by these sensations. It became harder for her to not move her hips when it promised to provide some friction that her body really wanted at the moment. As Soul shifted his attention from one breast to another, and his hands grabbed at her butt, thighs, hips, and basically anything in reach, her groin sent a few very demanding pulses to her nervous system that told her she needed to do something about this pressure building in her gut. When it got to the point that she either did something of her own free will, or her body would take over and do it without her permission, she made an important decision.

Sucking in her breath, she decided that moving would be okay, as long as she maintained control over the movements and they stayed very deliberate and intentional on her part. After all, sex would require moving right? This could be practice for that.

So, with that thought in mind, she took it upon herself to try experimentally shifting her hips against his. It felt good, and she had to pause to reassess the situation. Soul didn't really give her that chance though, because as soon as her hips started moving, his responded. Even after she'd stopped, his continued grinding up into her. His lips had gotten clumsier, and his tongue wetter, which wasn't all that surprising. The grip he had on her hips didn't really let her sit still either, because he manually rocked her hips into him to the best of his ability.

Instead of letting him take over the movement, she decided it would be best to participate, which she did while still trying to maintain complete control over herself. It didn't entirely work, because by this point things were getting a little fuzzy and hazy as pleasure and heat mounted in her body. At least that cut down on her hang ups as well…but in a way it also sparked extra tension in her as she kept having to remind herself not to get carried away. It was aggravating and intoxicating at the same time. Still, this was manageable… a little uncomfortable, but manageable.

It got distinctly less so when Soul suddenly took it upon himself to tip them over onto the bed again…this time with him on top. Being on the bottom was not super comfortable for Maka, and she instantly tensed up a little. Things got better though when his lips landed on hers – silencing a protest in the making – and the familiarity of his kisses made her ease up almost instantly.

After kissing for a while, Soul detached from her lips and started moving down, which was mostly fine in Maka's book. By this point she'd pretty much gotten used to him messing with her boobs, and was enjoying it more than anything else. She was still keeping tight reins on her body, but it was getting easier for her to loosen up…at least a little. So she didn't protest his downward momentum, at least not until his lips had made a cursory inspection of her breasts and then moved on. At that point, she raised up a little onto elbows to peer down at him somewhat worriedly. At the movement, he glanced up, must have noted her concerned expression, and responded by sticking his tongue in her belly button. That caused her to scoff down at him.

"Really Soul?"

She felt his grin instead of seeing it.

With a sigh, she flopped back down onto the mattress. Her body was relaxed for all of a minute though, as she felt his fingers hook into the sides of her underwear.

"Hey…Maka? Do you mind if these come off?"

For this to work, they had to be removed. She knew that. It was still a little disconcerting, but the idea of being totally naked in his presence didn't really bother her all that much anymore. So she nodded, and said, "Well, yeah. I think for this to work they kind of have to come off, don't they?"

He shrugged. "Depends on how you wanna do it. But yeah, generally."

So saying, he swiftly tugged them down and she helped by lifting her butt and then kicking them off when they were down to her ankles. That left her to clamp her thighs shut, which didn't work too well since one of Soul's knees was between her own. In fact, she clenched down so hard on said knee, that he hissed and tipped forwards as she shifted his center of balance.

"Woah, ease up there a little, Maka."

"Sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No, course not. But you did kinda knock me off balance. I don't really think you want me falling face first into you."

"No, probably not." She agreed and loosened up her grip on him even more.

Seeing herself naked when she glanced down was a bit more disconcerting than she would have predicted, but she got over the first shock pretty quickly. After that, things got easier when he dipped down to press another kiss to her stomach and soothed her with a hand on her leg. To participate – and distract herself – she unclenched her fingers from the sheets and instead shifted them to his head where she carded them through his thick hair.

Her grip tightened somewhat when his hand made its way up between her thighs, but she was quick to loosen it up when he hissed against her tight abs. Yanking out a chunk of his hair was probably not conducive to a romantic atmosphere. Still, it was a bit of a struggle to keep herself relaxed as his fingers started exploring territory he'd only felt over her underwear before.

As for Soul, he was in heaven.

He hadn't really expected the amount of slipperiness he ran into as soon as his fingers got up in her business, but hell if it wasn't sexy. It really gave him an ego boost to know he'd made her this wet. It was undeniable evidence that he was getting to her, despite the tight control she kept on herself. Even now he could feel her dialing her reaction back as first her legs tightened spastically on his knee again and then she obviously forced them to relax again. That was probably nerves, which he could understand. After all, he'd tensed up when she first touched his dick.

The first thing he did of course was to just feel around and try to get an idea of what he was dealing with – which was honestly kind of difficult because everything was so fucking slippery. What he really wanted was to get a visual to help him out – and also because he really just wanted to see her pussy. So, to do that he detached his mouth from her stomach and kind of sat back a little. First, his eyes traveled to her face to check in with her and make sure things were still cool. She met his gaze, which as a good sign, and overall her expression was a little tight but not overly perturbed.

When he leaned back and started lowering his gaze he did it slow enough that she could stop him if she wanted to. There was nothing subtle about how he did it either, so she knew good and well what he planned to do. Aside from a slight tightening of her thighs again, she didn't protest, so he took that as a go ahead to get a peek. When his eyes finally got groin level on her, mostly what he saw was a patch of fuzzy blond hair and his hand disappearing between her thighs. He could only really see the top of her cleft, because of how close her thighs were pressed.

To get a better look he'd have to somehow convince her to move her legs apart a bit. That might be a little tricky, but he wasn't one to back down from a challenge. So, his free hand landed on one knee and clamped down gently. Using gentle pressure, he pushed on her leg outwards, just a little, and asked, "Do you mind if we make a little more room for me to work here? It's kinda tight quarters."

Her eyebrows tensed up a moment as she thought about that one for a second, but after just a moment of considering she nodded. Without his prompting, the leg he was holding bent and then fell out to the side, which suddenly gave him a great view. That instantly absorbed all of his attention, and he knew his eyes must have popped out of his head. There was possibly a drool problem too, but he couldn't really be bothered to fix it at this precise moment.

His experience with porn might be limited, but he had known pretty much what to expect. Still, it completely took his breath right out of his body to really look at it for the first time. Pussies weren't exactly pretty – neither were dicks and balls for that matter. Sex parts were kind of odd looking, all dangly bits of skin and stuff, but he might have to make an exception in Maka's case. She was amazingly dainty, which he probably should have expected since the rest of her was pretty tiny. And everything was so damn pink. He'd never been the kind of guy to like the color pink, but on her it looked cool. Better than cool actually, it was fucking amazing. Framed in blond fuzz, it was probably the most arousing thing he'd ever seen in his entire life. Especially since his fingers were also in the picture.

Now that he had a good look at things, it was much easier to map out the terrain and figure out what the hell was going on. It didn't take him too long to find her clit, considering she'd already pointed it out when he'd messed with her over her panties, and he was very interested in figuring that out in particular. In fact, if he could make her cum he would probably be the happiest guy on the planet. The only problem with that, was that her pussy didn't exactly come with a manual, and her clit was literally just a pink button of flesh. He had no idea what to do with it, so he resorted to fiddling with the thing and flicking his eyes back and forth between his fingers and her face to try and figure out what felt good. There were about a million things he could do with it, rub it up and down, side to side, in circles, around it, on top of it, below it, poke it like a doorbell, flick it, pinch it, and any number of other things that he tried out.

It didn't take long to figure out that rubbing was his best option, because the others seemed a little silly, so he stuck to that. Even with settling on one thing, there were still lots of options to consider, like pressure and speed. Direction and location seemed to be a big issue too. There were too many fucking things to really think about at once, and as methodically as he tried to approach it, it seemed kind of impossible. Still, he stuck with it, up until Maka lost her patience with him. Apparently her fuse was shockingly short, and it wasn't long before one hand reached down and stopped his progress.

"Th-that's enough Soul."

When he glanced up, he was quick to realize that she wasn't necessarily stopping him out of frustration or because he was fucking it up. If anything it looked like he'd been doing a pretty good job, if her bright eyes and flushed cheeks were any indication. The tight set of her jaw might indicate something bad, but somehow he suspected it had more to do with her trying to keep control of the situation, which was a real pain in the ass. It was obvious that she didn't want to let him make her orgasm, which ticked him off to no end.

Something in him rose up a little with that frustration, and an idea popped into his head. It was probably a really bad idea, but he just couldn't seem to help himself.

Smiling, he said, "Whoops, sorry. I guess I wasn't doing it right. Maybe this'll work better."

Before she could respond to that, he'd already ducked down between her legs and wedged his shoulders in tight to shove her thighs apart. His mouth was taking the place of his fingers in a heartbeat, and at the first taste he was instantly addicted.

On Maka's side of things, she instantly felt guilty when he apologized and apparently mistook her for saying he was messing up. That was wrong of course. While his fingers had been clumsy, and switched between things that felt really god and things that were either not enough or too much, over all it had felt good. Too good in fact. Really, she hadn't been too worried about orgasming, since he hadn't shown any sign of settling on a particular rhythm – good or bad – but it had still gotten to a point that it was making her want more. She knew she was definitely wet enough for sex, and that was the main focus here…not getting her off. In fact, if they could avoid the latter entirely, she'd be happier.

She had started trying to correct him, but hadn't had a chance to, because almost before he'd finished his apology, he was shoving himself between her legs and getting himself situated for something else entirely. It was obvious that he was ready to try oral instead, and there was no way in hell she was letting him do that. With Soul and his oral fixation, if she let him get into that particular activity, there was no telling what would happen. She might be stuck to this mattress for the rest of the night. Not to mention, his tongue was practically magical, and if there was anything that might get her off without her permission, it was that thing.

She indulged in a mild panic attack as she instantly got much, much louder. "Soul! What the hell are you…No! Stop that!"

He'd already made contact before she had a chance to push him off, and the first feel of wet tongue on her privates had her shuddering violently for multiple reasons. When that was followed shortly by a low groan from him, she was worried she might already be too late.

"Yikes! Stop I said!" she yelled, and one foot came up instinctively and found purchase on his shoulder. She was so panicked that she kicked with probably a lot more force than was strictly necessary in this particular setting, and normally he would have flown off the bed. This time though, all she managed to do was shove him back, because his arms had already looped under her legs to let his hands clamp down on her hips. That grip kept him kneeling between her legs, though her kick did manage to shove him back into an upright sitting position and probably hurt his shoulder.

He confirmed her suspicions when he came up with a grimace, one eye squinting as he flinched towards the shoulder she'd just pounded.

"Ow, Maka, watch it." he grunted, not sounding overly surprised by her reaction.

Now that she had him at a slight distance, she was quick to move her foot to the center of his chest to make sure there wasn't a repeat performance.

"Well if you hadn't gone down on me like that, I wouldn't have had to kick you."

"What's wrong with me goin' down on you? I'm pretty sure I can make you cum like that…"

"Maybe. But I don't really want to orgasm. So can we just skip to the intercourse part of things?" Maka decided being blunt was the best option here.

One of Soul's eyebrows cocked incredulously. "You don't want to cum?"

"No."

There was an awkward pause. Then he asked, "Isn't that kind of the point of having sex?"

Instantly she was on edge. "No! Sex doesn't have to be just about physical satisfaction! It can be about emotions and intimacy and sharing something special!"

Both his eyebrows shot up at her outburst. "Woah, easy there. I didn't mean it like that. Of course it's about emotions and stuff. That's why we're doing it, right? Cause we love each other?"

It was rare for Soul to actually talk about emotions, and it instantly set her back to absolute zero on the anger scale. In fact, she was so surprised she was almost numb for a moment as she stared up at him in shock. Then abruptly her emotions took a turn for the warm and gooey, and she could feel a soft flush work its way onto her face.

"Yeah…that's right."

There was a slight lull in the conversation, and then Soul cleared his throat and one of his hands reached up to gently wrap around her ankle, which was still attached to a foot that was shoved into the center of his chest.

"What I meant earlier, was that the point of having sex is to make each other feel good. Which ties in with the emotions and shit. I mean, that's part of the intimacy, right?"

Maka gritted her teeth. He was right. Because she loved Soul, she had wanted to pleasure him, and had thoroughly enjoyed doing so. Watching him come apart under her had been one of the best things she'd ever experienced. Really, she was lucky to have a guy who felt that way about it, because she knew a lot of them would be delighted to have the go ahead and not have to worry about her needs. Yet here she was denying him. It seemed incredibly stupid. And yet…

"Soul…I just, you know how I feel about it. I like being in control of things, and orgasming is about as out of control as you can be…"

"Why do you have to be in control?"

The point-blank question once again set her back on her ass. "Um…I mean, it's a way to not feel anxious about stuff. When I'm in a potentially scary situation, I like to be in control. It's how I've gotten us through all our fights. I have to be in control in a battle situation or we die…"

"Okay, sure, that makes sense. But I don't see any kishin eggs in the bedroom with us. Is having sex with me really as scary as fighting one of those things? Because if so… we have a problem." He fixed her with a no-nonsense stare and cocked one eyebrow again at her in a challenging sort of way.

It got a laugh from her because it was such a ridiculous thing to say. "No of course not!"

"Then why react to it like you would in a fight?"

With a sigh, she relaxed back into the mattress and brought up both hands to scrub at her eyes in frustration. "It's not…like that. I just…I have issues with sex. You know that. It's always made me kind of anxious. When I was a kid, I even swore that I would never do it. It just seems so…I dunno."

"I thought we were over that. Does the thought of it still gross you out or something?"

"No. Not when it's with you."

"Okay…then what's the problem here?"

This was the most trouble he'd ever given her on one of these issues, which told her he really wanted to do this. So she was going to really have to get him to understand so they could get back to doing stuff, because this little chat break was driving her nuts. That made her tone a little sharp when she responded.

"Look. Here's the deal. There's only one thing that freaks me out about sex…at least when it comes to stuff between me and you. The control thing is rooted in the fact that if I let my inhibitions go, I'll feel like a slut. Liking sex is still disturbing to me because of that one thing. I don't like the idea of doing all that stupid stuff, like moaning and humping and whatever, because it's just not something I'm comfortable with. And of course orgasming definitely falls under that category."

By this point he was staring at her with his jaw hanging a little loose. All he managed to say to that was, "Seriously?"

She responded with a tight nod.

As for Soul, this cleared up things a whole lot. He didn't have to be a genius to connect the dots and realize that this worry about being slutty was because of all the sluts her dad had banged when she was a kid. Obviously they would be bad guys in her opinion, and she'd wanna avoid being like them.

However, understanding it didn't really fix his current problem.

It was so difficult that his fingers automatically found his hair to ruffle through and scratch at his scalp in confusion. How was he supposed to do anything with her now?

Finally, he came to a decision, and with a disgruntled sigh he gently pushed at her foot until she let it slide off his chest. That let him lean over her and get nose to nose. He let himself give her a soft kiss, because he couldn't quite resist it, but pulled back before he could get too involved again.

"Okay. Fine. I'll leave off for now, but only on one condition."

Her eyes instantly narrowed. "What condition?"

"When we get back from the moon, we're going to revisit this. And I _will_ make you cum. Letting yourself enjoy sex doesn't make you a slut."

Her response was first to stare at him in confusion, then shock, then a bright flush, and then finally aggravation tightened her eyebrows.

"I know that but…"

He interrupted her, because now was not the time to get into it. He was willing to let it go for now. "It's cool, Maka. We don't have to worry about all that for now okay? Let's just do what you are comfortable with tonight. Sound good?"

She sighed and nodded, and he didn't waste time getting busy again. Kisses and touching happened, until she was ready again, because all that talking had gotten them both a little out of the mood. He was kind of surprised that she moved her hips with his when he accidentally bucked into her, because it seemed at odds with what she had just said…up until he realized that it was a carefully calculated and controlled movement. At this particular moment the realization didn't bother him too much, he just added it to the list of things he wanted to revisit later.

On his side of things though, control was the last thing he was thinking about. All he could really focus on was the fact that he was going to actually be having sex with her. It didn't take long before he couldn't really hold himself back any longer. It took the last shred of brain power he had left to pull himself away from her long enough to blindly grab for his nightstand and the box of condoms he had there. Actually they were condoms that Blaire had put there, for unknown reasons. Nevertheless, he decided to get her a fruit basket or something.

He got through the process of getting the thing on with a constant stream of muttered cusswords – after he had shed his boxers of course. None of it was well coordinated, and he managed to rip one before he got the second on correctly. Maka just watched, looking a little worried and a little amused. At some point she said, "Um…you can slow down a little and read the instructions or something. I'm not going anywhere."

By the time he was done, he was flushed with embarrassment and excitement. Mostly embarrassment though at this particular second. Still, he didn't let that stop him.

Before he did anything though, he glanced up and made eye contact. "And you're sure that you're okay with this?"

She nodded, and so he didn't waste any more time. There was some repositioning as he got himself lined up, and then both his palms were pressing into the mattress as he pushed in. He tried to go as slow as he could, though it was tough, because he didn't want to hurt her if he could avoid it. Surprisingly, he only met a tiny bit of resistance instead of having to bust through some sort of barrier, and soon he was flush to her pelvis as he stared down at her with shock. His face probably looked something like hers, wide eyes, flushed cheeks, and slightly parted lips as they both took in the feeling.

"Um…was that okay? Did I hurt you?"

She shook her head, seeming as startled as him. "No. My hymen was already mostly broken I guess."

He wondered how that happened, but wasn't really interested in asking right now. It was just a relief to know he didn't have to worry about hurting her.

Even with a condom, and having cum just a little while ago, it was ridiculously tough for him to keep a slow pace, even though he knew that was probably what he was supposed to do. First times were supposed to be slow right? If so, that was one myth he had just proved totally fucking wrong, because as much as he'd like to take his time and go easy on Maka, it was really damn impossible. Still, he tried his best to keep his hips under control…which just resulted in sort of jerky uncoordinated hip thrusts. For once in his life it was nearly impossible to find a rhythm.

Part of that was probably performance anxiety on his part, because some part of his brain was still taken up by worries over whether he was going to do this right. Most of it though was consumed by the feel of Maka. Even though he was less than graceful, she seemed to be doing okay and met his thrusts with much smoother movements of her own pelvis. In fact, she seemed to be handling the whole thing much better than him, so he hardly felt the need to protest when she suddenly shoved him over onto his back. Letting her control the motions seemed like an excellent idea right now.

As for Maka, now that she had her main concern out of the way, she actually found herself enjoying this new experience with Soul. At first it had been a little overwhelming of course, especially as the reality of the situation hit her right around the time he had first slid in. But after the first jolt of awareness that made something swoop in her stomach, it hadn't seemed like such a big deal.

It had stung just a smidge at the very beginning, but after that it didn't hurt at all - not that pain would have been a problem for her anyways. But it was a relief that it was comfortable, since pain would have undoubtedly dampened Soul's enjoyment. Mostly it had just been more intense than she had expected, at first in an almost uncomfortable sort of way as some muscles she was unfamiliar with stretched to accommodate him.

Then it was intense because it felt better than she had expected, with the friction and pressure rubbing and massaging nerves that she was suddenly made aware of as they were woken up. It definitely felt pretty amazing, and it took her a few minutes to adjust to the sensation and get herself mostly in control of her responses. Once she was familiar enough with it to not be too overwhelmed, she flipped them, since she was still more comfortable controlling the situation.

It also had the added benefit of smoothing the ride out somewhat, since Soul seemed to be having some trouble getting himself together. It must have been much more intense for Soul than it was for Maka, because he appeared to be falling apart…but in a good way.

After they flipped over, she got a good look at his face, which she hadn't noticed before since her eyes had been closed apparently. He was flushed, breathing heavily, and his eyes were practically black instead of crimson. Sweat had already made an appearance earlier on, but now it was making his skin even stickier and shinier than before as his body temperature went up alongside his passion. The sight of him kicked Maka in the stomach with a bolt of lust, and she tensed, taking a deep breath to steady herself as she slowly started moving her hips.

She hadn't exactly thought this through, because this particular position – while giving her a lot of the power – also meant that she would have to do a lot of the thrusting…and in a way, that was somewhat uncomfortable. At least at first. Even with her confidence increased by being on top, she still blushed a little bit as Soul watched her with slightly narrowed eyes as she started moving up and down over him. The increase in self-consciousness caused her movements to lose some of their previous smoothness for a short moment as she acclimated to the new situation, but soon she regained some confidence and adjusted.

It was a little awkward, but not too bad, and soon she was pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind as she chose to focus more on the feel of him, the sight of him, and of course the muscles in her thighs and hips that she was trying to make work in new and interesting ways. It wasn't tiring exactly, but it did cause some strain in her muscles as she made them do things they hadn't ever done before in such a repetitive fashion. The mild discomfort was entirely overcome though by the pleasure of having him inside her, so she wasn't too distracted by that.

As she continued to move and found a satisfying rhythm, she found that more of her attention was taken up by the sensations inside and by his reactions. He certainly seemed to like what she was doing, and it wasn't long at all before he was offering assistance by bucking his hips up and grinding into her thrusts. It felt good, and she sucked in her breath as he hit some parts inside of her that lit up like a happy Christmas tree. It almost felt too good really, but she suppressed all zings of worry, because quite frankly she was enjoying the whole thing too much to care about it. And she still felt like she was mostly in control of herself. Yes, she was speeding up because it felt better, and maybe her thighs were shaking just a little for some unknown reason, but she wasn't moaning or writhing in an unseemly manner. In fact she hadn't made much noise at all, aside from fast breathing and a few tiny grunts of exertion from time to time. Or maybe they were grunts of pleasure, she couldn't really tell.

Not only was she wrapped up in the way she felt, but also by the way Soul seemed to be quickly getting close. As before, she couldn't tear her eyes away from him as he tensed up under her, his neck tightening to arch the back of his skull hard into the pillow. His fingers had latched onto her hips and were digging in tightly, guiding her faster. And unlike her, he was far from silent. A near-constant stream of bad language was muttered under his breath as he got closer, mixed with sighs and whispers of things Maka didn't really catch. It wasn't like he was loud though. In fact, even though he was mumbling so much, some of it was so quiet that she might not have even noticed he was saying anything if it weren't for the fact that she was watching him so closely and saw the way his lips moved.

By this point the resonance between their souls had widened unconsciously, and so she could feel when he started climbing to the last peak, as his soul buzzed against hers harder and harder. Because of that, it wasn't entirely a surprise when he jerked, cussed much louder, and his body bucked up into hers hard. It was a bit of a shock though, when she felt cold metal slide against her skin as apparently a blade popped into being from somewhere behind her. Actually, there was more than one, because she could feel the edge of one blade arch up along her back before curving over her shoulder and then another hooked over one thigh. The tip of the second dug into her leg just a little, but other than that she felt absolutely no threat from the blades. It sent a tiny zing through her, but not really one of fear.

The cold steel was as much a part of his body as the fingers on her hips and his pelvis pressed to hers, so she wasn't at all upset by their appearance. Which was good, because they stuck around as he bucked another time and then froze, his eyes shut tight as he cussed and twitched. She was pretty sure her name was also mixed into the things he said, but it was hard to tell.

It took a long time for him to relax back to the mattress completely. However, as soon as he noticed the blades' appearances, Soul was much less calm, and his eyes popped open wide before he instantly began spouting apologies in a breathless voice.

"Shit! Maka! I'm sorry…I…"

Before he could retract the metal back into himself, she reached up and snagged the tip of the blade curving over her shoulder, which instantly shut him up as he watched her with even wider eyes and a gaping mouth.

"It's fine. This is just another part of your body."

She let her palm and fingers curve around that particular blade and she slid her hand down a ways before pressing the pad of her thumb into what should have been an edge sharp enough to cut steel. Instead, it warmed and softened to her touch, becoming almost pliable, but not quite. Since becoming a Death Scythe, Soul had gained a mastery over his weapon form far beyond what he had ever been able to accomplish before, so it came as no surprise that he could mold the metal to her touch.

With a deep sigh, Soul relaxed, and as he did so the blades receded back into his body. "Still…that wasn't cool. Sorry if it scared you or anything."

"Nope. Didn't scare me at all." Maka responded with a smile, before gingerly lifting up and off him, since holding a conversation while he was still firmly seated inside her was kind of awkward.

He sucked in his breath, as did she, and then with an anticlimactic wet flop he was out and back on his own stomach. It was almost funny in a weird way.

She plopped onto her side with a deep sigh, facing him and he turned to face her on his side. For a while they just stared at each other and then Maka finally cracked a tired grin.

"Did that all really just happen?"

"Yep."

She chuckled. "It still seems kind of unreal in a weird way."

"I know what you mean."

They both sighed, almost simultaneously, and that got a chuckle from both.

"Do you mind if I spend the rest of the night here with you?"

"I was planning on it." Soul responded, and one arm lazily draped over her waist before tucking her into the curve of his body.

It wasn't long before he had passed out and begun both snoring and drooling onto her. With a small smile, Maka also fell asleep.

* * *

Author's Note:

Alrighty! Here's the new chapter! Woohoo!

Before I forget...Happy Easter to any of my readers who celebrate it! I hope you all had lots of fun in whatever way you enjoyed the day. :D

...insert happy Easter bunny and some colorful eggs here.

...a little more separation between Easter tidings and discussion on what you all just read...

...

...alright that feels like the right amount of spacing. Moving on. ;)

I hope everyone enjoyed the lemon. ;) And don't worry, Maka will get hers soon enough, just be patient. But we've got a Kishin to go kick around first.

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed! You are all absolutely fantastic, and I've enjoyed our little chats.

We've only got about three more chapters or so to go. But they'll be some exciting chapters, so stay tuned. :D

Speaking of, since we reached five reviews since the last chapter, you all get a preview of the next one. So here it is!

* * *

 _And yet, despite how much damage they were doing, the forces didn't seem to thin at all. It wasn't until Maka saw one of the clowns actually reassemble itself that she realized just how bad the situation was. These creatures were kept alive by madness, and the whole moon was alive with it. The Kishin was somewhere, probably beneath the surface, and his soul was giving off so much madness that these clowns could just reform as much as they wanted. They couldn't die._

 _As soon as she realized this, Maka's blood ran cold. Just how were they supposed to defeat an army that couldn't die? They couldn't even maim them, because the clowns could just put themselves back together. In comparison, the human forces could be killed and injured, which put them at a huge disadvantage. They could fight until they were all utterly exhausted and simply passed out, and it still wouldn't do any good at all. They were truly screwed._

 _"Shit…what do we do?" Maka cursed, racking her mind for any available answer._


	30. Chapter 30

Sometime in the middle of the night Maka woke up, tangled up with Soul naturally. She didn't know if his snoring or drooling had woken her, but either could have done it. His head was resting on her chest and she could feel drool accumulating between her breasts, and with a roll of her eyes she snagged a corner of blanket to mop up the mess. Naturally he slept through it. Once she was somewhat dry, she sighed and her eyes automatically slid to the window where the curtains were parted enough to show the moon.

Staring up at the thing, she still couldn't believe that tomorrow they would be there, fighting the Kishin. It was a terrifying thought, and anyone who said it wasn't was definitely lying. After seeing that monster in action months ago, Maka honestly didn't know how they were going to defeat it…only that they had to do so.

How she got back to sleep was a mystery, but soon she was harshly being ripped from fitful dreams as the alarm went off. Soul must have been sleeping lighter than usual, because even he woke up at the loud sound. Once again they were all twisted up together and in the blanket, and Soul's mouth had left a damp spot – this time on her arm. He groaned, and she understood the sentiment…even for her it was pretty early to get up from a somewhat sleepless night.

Somehow they untangled themselves, with minimal damage to each other and the bed – though Maka accidentally elbowed Soul in the eye at one point and he pulled out some of her hair. Neither of them spoke as they readied themselves for battle, they only shared a brief poignant smile, before separating and suiting up in their uniforms.

Maka had a little more to do, since she had to also put on the armor that had been issued to all the meisters who were going on this little adventure. For today, she wore pants that were snug and stretchy but had armor plating wherever it could be put, kind of like a set of motorcycle pants. They allowed for a full range of motion, but would help protect her from injuries. Over these she strapped on her steel toed boots. Up top she wore a similar sort of getup, a body armor suit that looked like a lighter version of a SWAT bulletproof vest, with sleeves that were constructed like her pants. Fingerless gloves with iron braces over the knuckles went on last.

After it was all strapped into place, Maka looked at herself in the mirror and couldn't help but think she looked like some sort of special ops from the military – all she was lacking was a gun, a parachute, and a helmet. It was strangely impressive, comforting, and terrifying all at once.

With a deep inhale, she exited the room, and Soul gave a low whistle at her appearance. He was just wearing his normal Spartoi uniform, which made sense. He would be in weapon form during the upcoming battle and the Academy had saved money by only handing out armor to meisters.

That armor proved to be an intimidating sight. Once Soul and Maka had left their apartment and got to the airship where they would all be assembling, they gaped at the view that greeted them. A small army of people in that black body armor was assembled in front of the loading bay of the enormous airship, and it was a sight to behold, even with all the weapons being in normal uniform.

Even Black Star and Kid were wearing it – which was terrifying all by itself.

"Yahooo! You guys ready?!"

Maka nodded firmly, while Kid sighed, saying, "This isn't a field trip. Please curb your enthusiasm for once."

Black Star just grinned, but that smile was wiped away as a horn sounded and over the speakerphone Lord Death addressed them all.

"All right everyone! This is it!" his chipper voice sounded, but then it grew more serious. "Soon, you will be coming face to face with our worst enemy. We must defeat him. If we don't, he will throw the world into chaos and madness."

There was a long pause, and then he continued, saying, "However, something good has come from this. Thanks to the threat of the Kishin, we have successfully made an alliance with the witches, a feat which has been impossible until now. With their help, I know we can defeat this menace."

Suddenly a portal came into being in the center of the courtyard, and everyone near it took a few steps back. From out of the spinning vortex came witches of every size, many of the who Maka recognized. Erika the frog witch, Muzumi the mice witches, and even Tabasa and Taruho, who worked at Chupacabra's were all present and accounted for.

Then she jerked in surprise when something warm and fuzzy landed on her shoulder, and she didn't have to look to know it was Blaire. Just to make an impressive entrance the magically gifted cat had shown up with the witches, even if she technically wasn't one.

"You're coming too?" Maka murmured under her breath, and she felt the bridge of Blaire's hat bob with her nod.

"Of course." The cat whispered back. "I can't have my kittens getting into trouble without me, now can I?"

Maka snorted lightly in amusement.

Over the speaker phones, Lord Death continued his speech. "These are the witches who will be accompanying us to the moon. Treat them as your comrades, because they are here to help defeat the Kishin. I know there's plenty of bad blood between us, but now is the time to put all that aside and work together."

At this point, Kid stepped out of the crowd and addressed what seemed to be the leader of the witches. "Welcome. And thank you for coming."

The leader - a tall woman with a big hat and a long blond braid - nodded.

"Now is the time for action! So go! And return safely after killing the Kishin and ridding the world of this evil." Lord Death bellowed, and everyone was suddenly in motion.

People who were on the mission boarded the ship in one huge group, while ship technicians began the disembarkment process. Once everyone was on board, the ropes tethering the ship to the ground were cut, and soon they were airborne and on their way to the moon.

Maka found a good spot to watch as they floated up through the sky, and soon clouds obscured their vision.

"You ready?" Maka quietly asked Soul, who was silently slouching against a nearby wall.

After a brief pause he shrugged. "Doesn't really matter does it? I doubt any of us are really ready."

Maka nodded. "Yeah. But we're as ready as we're ever gonna be…"

Soul pushed himself upright and came to stand right beside her, looking out the window as they emerged on top of the cloud cover, taking in the awe-inspiring sight. He was quiet for a long time as they rose quickly through the atmosphere, steadily gaining altitude until the air around them began to grow dark and the horizon curved more and more. Soon the earth started to fall away entirely.

Finally Soul responded. "Ready or not doesn't matter, like I said. We're gonna beat him either way."

"Right."

And then once again silence fill the space. Eventually, they – like almost everyone else – switched sides and went to a place where they could view the moon as they closed in on it. It smirked at them, almost as if it knew they were about to die and was laughing at them.

It was at that moment that suddenly the whole ship jerked and a loud BOOM sounded throughout the structure.

"What the fuck?!"

"It sounds like we're under fire. We must be getting close." Maka muttered and ran towards a different port hole. Sure enough, another loud explosion sounded and this time Maka was able to see a ball of light hit one of the sides of the ship.

It was obvious that the order had been given for evasive maneuvers, because suddenly it was a little hard to stand as the whole ship curved sharply right to left and back again. They also sped up in a major way, and the forwards momentum and velocity didn't really help with passenger balance. Maka, Soul, and everyone they ran into in the halls were tipping one way and another as they ran to their battle posts.

Anyone with a long-range weapon was taking positions at the ship's portholes to fire at the enemy from above, while ground teams like Soul and Maka were supposed to report to the belly of the ship. The ship would get as close to the ground as possible and then the boarding doors on the bottom of the ship would be opened so they could jump out.

Soul and Maka kept their hands locked together to prevent them from being separated in the crowd as everyone rushed haphazardly to their positions.

Soon they reached the waiting area, and quickly staked out a spot near Black Star and Tsubaki. They were both going to be in the first wave of teams who jumped. Among them were also all the Death Scythes and their meisters, including her father and Stein.

Some of Spartoi would stay behind for back up, and of course anyone who had a long-range attack was staying up top for the time being. Crona and Blaire were both back up, but for now they were with the long-range attack unit shooting out of portholes - sending pumpkin canons and sonic blasts raining down on the enemy. Kid was also among those staying up top to provide support from the air, but didn't plan to join the ground teams unless absolutely necessary. Since he was the official emissary between the witches and meisters/weapons, he needed to stay easily accessible just in case there was any infighting or arguments.

Soon, a large creaking sound shuddered through the ship beneath their feet, and then suddenly the floor began to lower at an angle.

As soon as the ramp had lowered fully, a speaker came on above them. "This is your captain speaking. As you can see, the loading dock has been opened. Please disembark post haste. I can't keep this low altitude for long."

At that, everyone rushed to jump out, although most stalled at the lip for a few seconds to stare at the ground… which was still a ways away. It was strangely daunting to jump out of a moving aircraft, and even Maka paused for a half-second, despite being able to fly with Soul.

Naturally Black Star was the first to jump. He had already been barreling forwards before the bay door had even finished opened, and he was leaping out with a loud, "YAHOOO!"

In his haste he knocked a few other people out with him, who yelled insults as they fell ungracefully down to the surface of the moon. Kilik, Fire, and Thunder were short to follow, as was Ox and Harvar. At the same time, Maka reached her hand out to Soul and he transformed. Instead of jumping though, they flew out of the opening alongside Kim and Jackie who also chose an aerial approach. They flew down to hover above the others who had safely landed as more teams continued to jump out of the ship.

Soon they were all on the ground and the ship was already withdrawing to a safe height.

Now that they were on the moon, Maka could see just what had been attacking the ship…and also what they had to go up against. There was a whole army of clowns, just like the creature of madness Maka had fought in that insane factory what seemed like forever ago. The Kishin himself was nowhere to be seen, but all his minions were more than enough to scare the pants of anyone. Most of them were humanoid, but some were distinctly not. Even the humanoid ones possessed mechanical and animal looking parts though, so none of them were pretty to look at.

The one who had been firing on the ship was some weird creature with a floating crescent moon where his head should be. The rest of his body was just a curtain hanging from some sort of bonelike structure. This critter had little crescent moon shaped blades floating all around him, and as Maka watched they shot off what looked like lasers at the ship floating above them. The beams of destructive light bounced off a protective magical barrier that the witches must have put up once the troops had exited, but the fact that they were being fired on did not sit well with Maka at all, so her first target was definitely the moon clown.

Black Star was already barreling in head first and had engaged multiple clowns at once, mostly sending them flying. The others had taken on clowns of their own and had already engaged in battle. Kim was flying around on Jacki, like Maka was on Soul, and she was sending down fire balls from above into groups of clowns.

With her gaze fixed on the moon clown, Maka made a beeline right for him, zipping through the air at high speeds on Soul. As soon as their chosen opponent was in range, she flipped off Soul's handle, grabbed it and swung him down in an arch that would have split the crescent moon head in two. Unfortunately they were deflected by moonbeam lasers, which hit Soul's blade and forced him to veer his downward slice.

Soon Maka found herself completely preoccupied blocking the moon-creature's attacks as laser after laser was shot at her, and eventually she was forced to take to the air again to dodge them. There was no opportunity to get a hit in edgewise with a bombastic attack like that.

"Hey Maka, see of you can lock onto those laser things with your soul perception." Soul suddenly asked through their resonance, and Maka instantly flipped on her perception and locked onto the little moon blades that were circling their master. Surprisingly, they had their own soul frequency separate from his.

"Perfect…"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna soul hack them."

Instead of asking what the hell "soul hack" meant, she just watched and felt Soul's intentions through their resonance as he played a few keys of his piano. They perfectly matched the frequency of the little blades. By doing this he hijacked their control from the moon guy, and suddenly the little blades flew away from him to float around Maka and Soul instead.

"Woah. Cool."

She felt Soul's grin along their resonance and saw it flash in his blade.

Now that they had control over the moon blades, Maka turned her attention to the other clowns and used her newly acquired weapon to shoot them apart. Clown bits and pieces went flying as she hit them over and over with the lasers. Similarly, clowns were being tossed this way and that by the rest of their forces, particularly wherever Black Star happened to be, and were also being blown apart by shots fired above from the ship.

And yet….

Despite how much damage they were doing, the forces of crazy clown-ness didn't seem to thin at all. It wasn't until Maka saw one of the clowns actually reassemble itself that she realized just how bad the situation was. These creatures were kept alive by madness, and the whole moon was awash with it. The Kishin was somewhere, probably beneath the surface, and his soul was giving off so much insanity that these clowns could just reform as much as they wanted.

They couldn't die.

As soon as she realized this, Maka's blood ran cold. Just how were they supposed to defeat an army that couldn't die? They couldn't even maim them, because the clowns could just put themselves back together. In comparison, the human forces could be killed and injured, which put them at a huge disadvantage. They could fight until they were all utterly exhausted and simply passed out, and it still wouldn't do any good at all. They were truly screwed.

"Shit…what do we do?" Maka cursed, racking her mind for any available answer.

Soul had picked up on her thoughts and discerned the conclusion she came to at the same time she arrived there. He grimaced, but all he had to offer was, "Keep fighting I guess."

Suddenly she got distracted by the sight of a mass of clowns trying to overwhelm Stein and her father, and instantly directed Soul's nose in their direction to offer assistance. As soon as they were overhead, Soul transformed back into his normal scythe form and their resonance skyrocketed. With a flash of light, Soul was taking on the form of Demon Hunter, and Maka was plowing down through the ranks of clowns like a hot blade to butter. Others that she missed were shot down with her moonbeams.

Stein pushed up his glasses. "Good to see you are doing well, Maka."

"You too."

Maka turned and pressed her back to the much taller mad scientist's as they faced off against the revived clowns.

"Hey professor, have you noticed how these guys won't die?"

"Yes indeed. It is quite the problem I must say." Stein grunted back, as he swung her dad in scythe form to kill a swath of them.

"Any ideas on how to put them down for good?" She asked, her concentration split between the question and wielding Soul.

"Pay attention Maka! Behind you!" Soul spat and used one of the lasers to blast away the clown that was gearing up to bite off her head.

"Right…sorry." More attention was given to the fight and less to the conversation between her and Stein as the battle picked up in pace.

They amped up resonance again and went to Demon Hunter to reap all the clowns in front of them, the way a normal scythe would mow down some wheat. That caused a slight lull in the fight as all the clowns scurried to put themselves back together.

"They are being resurrected by the madness, if we can cut them off from the source, then we could kill them for good." Stein grunted after a moment of mad slashing with Spirit, and then cussed as one of the clowns managed to cut him across his shoulder.

Meanwhile, the short lull in her array of opponents proved to be shorter than she'd thought it would be as fresh clowns poured in to replace the ones that were still reforming. They cut in from the side and managed to sneak in between her and Stein.

"How the hell do we do that?!" Maka yelled back across the few clowns between them now as she hustled to try and down all the enemies now surrounding her. They quickly doubled in quantity as soon as the clowns she'd split apart with her Demon Hunt finally managed to put everything back where it was supposed to be, and suddenly she had her hands full.

She almost didn't hear Stein's response since she was so busy not dying and killing clowns, but she faintly picked up on him saying something about the witches and their soul shielding spell. It was easy enough to fill in the blanks, and an idea popped into her head.

"I'm going to fly back to the ship!" She yelled and got an affirmation in response.

Quickly, she fired off the moonbeams to clear a space around her, and then mounted back up on Soul. They shot up like a rocket and the momentum forced her to brace herself with her palms on his hilt.

"What's the plan?" Soul asked as he rushed them back to the ship at top speed.

"We have to ask the witches if they can put a spell on the Kishin, the same kind that hides their souls from our perception abilities. Hopefully it will cut off the supply of madness to the clowns and they'll kick the bucket finally."

It only took a minute to reach the ship and board through a hole that the witches opened up in the defenses. At that point she sought out Kid, since he was the official mediator between the witches and members of the DWMA. It was probably best to have him make the request.

As soon as she boarded, she asked where he was and was led to his position at one of the portholes, where he was firing rounds of Death Canon blasts down on the clowns below. Before she got his attention, she overheard him muttering angrily to himself, "Disgusting, vile, filthy creatures. No symmetry at all."

That explained why he seemed entirely too excited about shooting them apart and had a continuous volley going in a way she wasn't sure she'd ever seen before. Under normal circumstances she might have laughed, but at the moment she was a bit busy and had to talk to him as soon as possible.

"Kid!"

He turned instantly. "Maka? What are you doing back on the ship?"

"We're being overwhelmed down there. The clowns keep coming back to life, no matter how many times we kill them."

Kid went pale. "I knew something was off, but this?"

"I have an idea how to defeat them."

Instantly he snapped back to attention. "What's your plan?"

"I want you to ask the witches if they can put a spell on the Kishin to seal his soul, sort of like how they hide their own soul from us. The clowns are given life from the madness coming off the Kishin's soul wavelength. If we can cut it off, then the clowns won't be able to come back to life."

"A solid plan. I will see what I can do." Swiftly he ran off to locate the leader of the witches.

Just as quickly, Maka turned and exited back to the bow of the ship, where she once again mounted up on Soul and flew back down into the fray. They had to keep those clowns at bay until Kid had a chance to get that spell in place.

Instantly she noted Ox and Kilik in a tight spot and rushed to help. She was beaten by Kim, who had already noticed her boyfriend getting overrun by clowns and swooped down to rain fire and destruction on the enemy's heads. Maka assisted with a wave of moonbeams as she flew past overhead.

With a wave at Kim, she kept flying to another bunch of clowns. They landed among the chaos there, to see that several of their allies who she didn't know by name had already been overrun. A few were still alive, but most were already lying bloody and broken on the ground, only to be trampled by the clowns as they eagerly rushed to get their claws, talons, spears, teeth, and whatever else they happened to possess on the reminder. Disgustingly a few remained behind to desecrate the bodies of the fallen.

The sight of it sent Maka into a rage, and she instantly ramped up her resonance rate with Soul, who was only too happy to oblige. He was just as affected as she was at the sight of their comrades being mutilated and savaged. Light radiated from them as their resonance went sky high, and a blast of power caused some of the weaker clowns to stagger back some. In an attack that carved a deep trench into the ground, Maka flipped over the heads of a bundle of the clowns, swinging Soul around as she did so. His glowing blade sliced through them and created a wide swath of torn-up land littered with clown pieces. As soon as her feet hit the ground though, she instantly met with more opposition and another set of clowns pounced on top of her. Soon Soul was flying around her in a dance of death and clown blood while vicious moonbeams flashed constantly from her halo of crescent moon blades.

She hit one clown in the solar plexus with the butt of Soul's hilt as she used the blade to hook into the clown behind her. With a spin and crank of her arm, she sent the clown and the blade through a whole row of enemies to the side of her. Giving a sharp yank to his hilt, she freed Soul from the pile of bodies and spun to face the clowns on the other side of her. One had already gotten too close, and so she simply punched it in the face, which caused it to stagger backwards into another. Once there was room, she spun Soul around in a tight rotation to get him in front of her and used the spiked back of his head to smack into the two clowns. They went flying back into even more clowns, creating an ugly heap.

Others were closing in on the sides, and she used moonbeams on one set while cleaving the ones on her other side in two with a harsh snap of Soul's blade across their sternums. Unfortunately, while she was busy with them, another managed to sneak up behind her and bashed her over the head with a clublike appendage. The blow stunned her as a blast of pain assaulted her skull and made her ears ring. Even her vision blurred for a moment as she staggered forwards a few steps. She probably would have been knocked out cold if it weren't for Soul yelling at her and grabbing onto her soul with his.

She managed to turn and face the clown who had hit her, right in time to see his club rising for another blow. She didn't have time to block it or even blow it up with a moon laser, all she could do was flinch back and wait for the impact to crush some part of her body, probably something important…like her head. However, before the hit landed, an orange ball – which quickly became apparent as a pumpkin – came flying through the air and landed on top of the club-wielding clown, exploding in a Halloween-tinted blast that also sent Maka flying back. She was left unharmed from the explosion, but the clown was blown to bits.

"Remind me to get Blaire some fish or skimpy lingerie after this." Maka muttered to Soul and felt him nod and snort in response.

Looking up, she saw that Blaire had flown out of the ship and was now hovering in the air on a floating pumpkin. Soul decided that Maka needed a slight break to clear her still dizzy head, and so he transformed into his flying form and scooped them both up into the air for a quick breather. They had - at the very least - created enough chaos and confusion to let the little group of injured survivors make a break for it and escape from that particular pack of clowns. They'd disappeared and Maka could only hope they had made it to one of the rescue teams that zoomed around overhead on weapons like Soul and Jackie at regular intervals – picking up the injured wherever they could and taking them back to the ship for treatment.

"How's it going down here?" Blaire asked as they joined her.

"Oh, fantastic." Maka replied somewhat sarcastically as she dabbed a little blood from her forehead, and Blaire just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I can see that." That same note of sarcasm was in the black cat's voice as well. "But don't worry, it'll get better soon. The witches are already working on a spell, I can feel it from here."

"That was fast…" Maka murmured, relief flooding her. Maybe now they actually had a chance.

After catching her breath, she quickly zoomed off to another part of the battle, assisting whoever seemed to be in a tight spot as she tried to minimize the casualties. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long before clowns suddenly started staying down when she put them into the ground.

The only bad thing about that was that the clowns soon realized that they wouldn't be rising from the dead anymore, and suddenly they started fighting like their lives depended on it. It became abruptly harder to beat them down. Maka soon found herself fighting quite a few desperate clowns at once, and several of them got through her airtight defense to give her long and painful scratches. Thankfully none of her injuries were life-threatening, but man did they hurt like a bitch. Those clowns must have some sort of toxin in their claws and talons, because her cuts felt sort of like a cat scratch - with a similar weird burning, itching sensation that lasted way too long after the initial injury…only a thousand times worse.

Maka suddenly became extremely grateful for those moonbeams, because they came in really handy more than once in dispatching a clown that had snuck through her defenses. Soul was mainly in charge of their operation at this point while she focused on wielding him. For a long time it felt like the fighting would never end.

Finally though, with a swoosh of Soul's blade, she cleaved the last clown within her vicinity in two. As he fell to the ground in pieces, Maka went to one knee, breathing heavily and cringing with the pain of her wounds.

Soul momentarily popped out of weapon form and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. His head was up, swinging around in every direction, looking for any enemy that might try to sneak up on them as he muttered urgently, "You okay? Did they get you badly?"

"No…I'm fine." She groaned, slowly standing back up with one last wince.

Soul stood with her, his fingers gliding over her body in a quick check. His fingers and palms came back bloody and he looked down at them with a sour expression, then glanced back up with an unamused glare. He didn't even have to say the sarcastic, _'yeah, sure, you look just great,'_ for her to see it clearly in his expression.

"Well….I was cut up a little…but really, I'm fine Soul. They're just superficial scratches." She grumbled, already looking for her next opponent. Shockingly, it seemed like the remainder of the clowns were being thoroughly preoccupied by the rest of the army.

"It looks like the only thing left to worry about is the Kishin itself …. hopefully…." Maka muttered, looking around carefully and activating her soul perception. Unfortunately, the witch's spell seemed to have also masked his presence from her perception. "Shit. I can't sense him anymore though.…now what?"

Soul shrugged. "Find him the old fashioned way I guess."

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Alrighty! Here's the new chappie! I hope the first half of the epic finale was up to everyone's expectations. :D

Now on to find the Kishin!

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who reviewed. You guys are all wonderful and awesome and amazing.

And as for the sneak peek of next chapter...we didn't get up to five reviews since the last chapter, so no sneak peek on this one. Sorry guys. :( If you want a sneak peek of the final chapter and lemon breeze, then be sure to review this chapter. ;) And if we get above ten, of course I'll post early, so keep that in mind too.


	31. Chapter 31

Once everyone had finally – and tediously – disposed of the clowns, suddenly they were all at a loss of what to do next. That is, until Kid swooped down on his skateboard.

Everyone looked to him, even the teachers, and Maka was suddenly reminded that, yes, Kid was the son of Lord Death. Sometimes it was easy to forget, but in this moment, as he took charge of the situation, it was easy to see. The authority that radiated from his thin frame was impossible to ignore.

He quickly rallied everyone together and had the injured taken back up to the ship, while the backup from the ship were dispatched. A trade-off was performed and then the aircraft took off again to hover in the airspace around the moon at a safe distance. Everyone still on the moon's surface was arranged into groups and sent off on a scouting mission to go and find the Kishin. Obviously their objective was to find him, engage him in battle, and try to kill him if they could. A signal flare was given to everyone, so when someone did eventually find him, they could alert everyone else to his location and backup could come quickly to aid in the endeavor.

Maka, Soul, Kid, Liz, Patty, Black Star, Tsubaki, Blaire, and Crona were all part of one group of course, and they set off quickly as soon as everyone had their orders. The other two teams consisted of the rest of Spartoi, quite a few witches, and the other Death Scythes – including Stein and her dad, who had somehow managed to escape relatively unscathed.

Knowing their luck though, Maka was almost sure that they would be the ones to run into the Kishin. If Kid didn't draw him out, Crona's black blood just might.

Nothing happened right away, and Maka quickly found herself on edge and tense beyond belief, somehow thinking that the Kishin would pop out from behind every inconsequential rock. It was almost with a sense of relief that they found an entrance down to beneath the moon's surface. Undoubtedly the Kishin was down there…somewhere.

They lingered in the opening for a moment, staring into an exceptionally dark tunnel with stairs that lead down into the belly of the moon.

"Should we light the flare?" Maka wondered out loud.

Kid pursed his lips. "We could…he's likely down these steps…however, until we know, it could be a waste of everyone's time. We should make sure and then one of us can return to light the flare."

"And if…he is down there? And attacks?" Crona asked this time, quivering as he stared down the dark tunnel.

"Someone will have to leave the others behind."

"Should we draw lots or something?" Liz asked, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and suppressing a shudder.

Everyone nodded, and Blaire naturally produced pumpkin sticks for them to use. Somehow it seemed ironic that she also drew the short straw.

With that settled, they all marched down into the mouth of what was likely hell. It was dark and quickly grew shockingly cold. There was something oily about the air that made it strangely hard to breathe. It felt like something was wiggling and skittering along the black walls as they walked…like millions of tiny black bugs, but when Maka stopped to look, it was plain black stone. The place set her teeth on edge and made her want to throw up.

There was no doubt in her mind that this was the Kishin's lair.

Soon, they emerged into a huge dank cavern. The silence echoed in the strangest manner possible, as if someone had just screamed a second before and the remainder was still in the air. Soon, someone did scream and everyone whirled to see Crona collapsing, cringing away from something that wasn't there.

Maka rushed to him, and was close enough to hear him whimpering, "…no…not you…. _please_ …."

Something in her gut jerked, and she had the distinct feeling that he was seeing a mirage of his mother. She was quick to grab his shoulders and shake him violently to snap him out of it. With a gasp he whipped around and stared at her with huge eyes.

"Crona!" she hissed quietly. "It's an illusion! Pull yourself together!"

He shuddered, closed his eyes, and then nodded. "Right…right…."

That wasn't to be the last of the illusions. Most of them suffered one, some being more dramatic than others. When Black Star fell into one he succeeded in punching all of them at least once before they were able to snap him out of it. Patty wasn't much better. Everyone went from being on high alert, to being downright spastic with paranoia. They all stuck tightly together, so that if anything attacked – illusion or real – they could all lend aid. It wasn't long before all the weapons had transformed instead of walking alongside them…in preparation of what was soon to come.

It came quickly. One moment, there was nothing but dark cave and crazy illusions, and the next there he stood. Blaire instantly took off to warn the others, her puffed up tail disappearing into the shadows of the cavern with a flash.

Maka's hands started to sweat, and she could feel Soul's soul shuddering alongside her own. The madness around the Kishin was so strong that it instantly made her queasy and dizzy in a wholly unpleasant way. He was stronger than the last time she came across him, and he had managed to escape Lord Death then. She didn't even want to imagine how powerful he was now.

Naturally, Black Star was the first to engage, shouting some sort of crazy war cry as he charged headfirst towards the demon. Even he had been affected by the madness and unpleasant nature of this place, because his normal yell of "Yahoooo!" was nowhere to be heard and in its place was something infinitely less cheerful.

"You pitiful human trash…coming at me like this…" Asura intoned, sounding almost bored, perhaps a little amused, and somewhat disgusted.

The bandages wrapping him snapped off in the way Maka remembered from last time and became like tentacles or whips, fending off Black star – or trying to anyways. He simply hopped on a particularly large strip and ran right up it straight to the Kishin, who was now floating midair in the exceedingly large cavernous space. He handed a hard punch to Asura's solar plexus and sent him flying backwards, but it seemed to do absolutely no damage to him. In fact, his mouth – the only part of his face they could see – remained set in a bored grimace.

"Filthy." Was his only response, and then he opened his jaws to an unnatural degree and a dagger shot out to hit Black Star. He grunted and fell back. Though he managed to block the blow with Tsubaki, it apparently had enough power behind it to knock him back a shocking distance.

He landed on the ground crouched, clutching his chest, and Maka sensed madness grab onto his soul. Her soul perception was full blast on her friends, though she limited it to them so that she didn't let too much of the madness in. Using that soul perception, Soul was able to attach lines to them and disinfect their souls with Maka's purifying wavelength put into song-form through his piano.

As soon as Black Star was once again stable thanks to Maka and Soul, he went at the Kishin again, this time joined by Kid riding on his skateboard. Maka of course, remained behind to offer soul protection for them. Meanwhile, Crona summoned Ragnarok and had him transform into his weird dragon form to spit sonic balls at the Kishin and provide long range back up. Maka hadn't seen him fight since the whole ordeal with Medusa, and she noted that his powers had increased exponentially, which probably had to do with the injection of black blood he had been forced to endure.

The Kishin was hardly fazed by any of their attacks however, and simply fended them off. In fact, he seemed to almost completely ignore Black Star, Maka, and Crona, in favor of addressing Kid.

"Little brother, I see you are still blindly following father's ways."

That odd and completely unexpected statement brought everyone to a grinding halt as they all looked at Kid in shock. It was obvious to see that he had no clue what Asura was talking about, and he scowled fiercely.

"Stop talking nonsense! Brother? Please! You're just trying to get under my skin with your lies of madness." He sounded mostly convinced, but a very slight waver in his tone betrayed his fear.

Asura grinned, and the bandages on his face slowly unwrapped to reveal a black and white haired man…who looked so much like Kid that it took everyone a second to process what exactly they were seeing. The stripes in his hair were more like short streaks, as opposed to the solid white bands in Kid's hair, but it was so similar it hardly made a difference. Of course his face was more mature, but he had the same sort of aristocratic features as Kid. There was no denying that they had a familial resemblance…more than that even, they looked practically like clones.

Kid stared at him in shock.

Asura grinned. "I see I have your attention now, little brother. Yes, we are both a part of Father. Fragments, if you will. Pieces of himself that he separated and made into new gods like himself. I inherited all his madness, while you…you came from all the fears that he discarded."

Kid was looking very much unsure now. Meanwhile, Black Star was getting more and more pissed.

"Kid's nothing like what you're talkin' about! He's our friend!" he bellowed and charged once again at the Kishin full force.

"A human attacking a god…how disgusting." Asura sneered, his attractive face twisting and exposing dark teeth. Ribbons of bandages snapped forwards and managed to intercept Black Star, wrapping him tightly like a mummy. With a clench of his fist they contracted, forcing a pained grunt from the assassin as he wiggled in his bonds.

Maka darted forwards, increasing her resonance rate with Soul to the point that they could fly, and they took off, zooming through the air towards Black Star. He seemed immobilized by more than just the bandages, and Maka could sense madness taking him over once again. With a stroke of Soul's keyboard, the line connecting their souls sung and drove away the blackness clouding Black Star's mind once again. Before she could get to him, he yelled and managed to tear out of the bandages all on his own with a feral grin.

"Oh please, like a mere GOD could hold ME!"

This did seem to surprise the Kishin, but all he did was grin a little and coo, "Ooh, scary. So scary."

It was impossible to tell if he was being sarcastic, or truly thought Black Star was scary and simply didn't care.

Black Star went on the offensive again, only to be smacked down, alongside Maka. Both crashed to the ground as somehow Asura increased the gravity of madness, pressing them to the ground with a force that felt like an elephant was sitting on them. Crona also ended up flat on his back, staring balefully up at the Kishin.

"Oh no…I don't know how to deal with this…" he murmured from beside Maka, and she heard Ragnarok smack him and say, "Pull yourself together!"

Asura turned back to Kid and continued his conversation about how they were apparently related, completely dismissing the rest of them as they groaned under the weight he had carelessly sat on them.

"We are both created from our father, really we are just pieces of him that he discarded. We aren't all that different, you and me. As Father's insanity and his fears, we should really get along quite well."

"I am nothing like you! I believe that the universe should have order and balance, and you're doing everything in your power to throw it into chaos!"

"Chaos and madness are the purest form of balance, little brother. If the entire world sunk into madness, everything would be the same and balanced…equally dark across the board. If nobody feared fear itself and simply gave into it as an integral part of themselves, there would be peace."

This sort of esoteric psychobabble continued on for far too long, while everyone else was smushed under a cosmic weight of madness. All of it seemed to be getting to Kid, but especially the part where he was related to the Kishin. That seemed to have thrown a serious weak link into his entire belief system, and with his sense of self shaken, everything else was wavering.

Eventually, Maka had had enough, and managed to push herself into an almost sitting position.

"Even if you are his brother, it doesn't matter. Just cause you're related doesn't mean that he has anything in common with you. Trust me, I would know."

Kid glanced down at her, and she saw the confusion in his eyes. He was obviously questioning his existence and what he had been told his whole life.

"Kid! Don't listen to him! It doesn't matter if he's your brother! Just kick his butt!" Black Star bellowed, also managing to peel himself off the ground.

Kid's eyes cleared and he nodded, before turning back to Asura. "I don't know if you really are my brother or not. However, the fact remains that you are creating madness, while I maintain justice, order, and balance. I don't believe any of what you said about chaos equaling balance, and therefore our basic principles remain entirely different. If we're both gods from the Shinigami, then we must decide whose rein will control. The world cannot have two gods competing for Law."

It sounded similar to the speech that he had given Noah, and once again Maka found it hard to follow.

Asura didn't seem to have any trouble understanding though and simply grinned. "Fine. If you think your justice and my madness are so different, let's see which one is more powerful."

The battle resumed in earnest then. To even make a dent, it was imperative that they perform a joint resonance, to enhance all their powers and coordinate their attacks. It was easy enough for Kid, Maka, and Black Star, but it was quite a bit harder for Maka to fit Crona into their resonance frequency. It took a good deal of piano work and tight spider webbing between all their souls before they were compatible enough to resonate. Soul played all their soul wavelengths, binding them together with his music and adjusting the frequencies of everyone's soul to match up in harmony.

The white bands on Kid's head connected with a massive flash of light and he geared up for a gigantic Death Cannon burst. Meanwhile, Maka and Black Star attacked in close range to distract Asura, while Crona pelted him with sonar blasts to cover them. Soul took the role of conductor and played them like a deadly orchestra, directing them to go here, do this, and then dodge, all in perfect sync with each other. With the aid of Maka's soul perception, she and he could determine the tides of the battle and direct everyone to their proper locations and actions.

Maka and Black Star took turns attacking, coordinating to hit him hard and fast. First she would hit Asura with Demon Hunter, her strongest attack at the moment, and then Black Star would attack, trying out his whole arsenal. Every time he attacked, he switched to a different form of Tsubaki, apparently trying to figure out if one worked better than the others. Of course naturally, her Uncanny Sword mode was his most powerful, especially after defeating Mifune and being granted his powers to some degree. Using the deadly black sword, he could even utilize his shadow offensively and could travel great distances with it as well, using it almost like a long tail or spring.

Maka was almost a little envious of that particular ability, but of course Soul could fly, so she wasn't overly jealous. She had plenty of tricks up her sleeve as well, including the powers they had absorbed with Arachne. Soul was using her webbing to connect their souls all together securely, but he was also weaving a separate web for Asura, to try and keep his soul wavelength in check and slow him down. It worked to some degree, but the magnitude of his power was simply too immense to wrangle under control.

Crona was using his sonar attack mainly from a distance, but as Kid got closer to finishing his super powered Death Cannon, Crona joined the fray up close, having Ragnarok transform into both wings and a sword at the same time. He flew around Asura, coordinating with Maka in midair for combo attacks. Catching his eye, she communicated soul to soul. They didn't even have to speak for the most part, since Soul's piano playing pretty much told them what to do. He also powered their souls up by playing their specific wavelengths at key moments, switching back and forth seamlessly as he directed them to attack and buffed them up to do so.

Maka went in for a dive, and Soul transformed from flying form to scythe form in a heartbeat as she got within range. Flipping him over her head, she slashed down with yet another Demon Hunter, and then managed to get his hilt back under her and zoomed out of the way as Crona performed his own resonance attack. With his attack, it was soul to soul, much like Black Star's soul to soul abilities, and so Maka picked up a mild shuddering of Asura's wavelength under Crona's purple assault. The pink haired meister wasn't as lucky or quite as fast as Maka in the air though, and Asura managed to knock him aside.

He went flying and Maka hurried to try and catch him midair as Black Star distracted Asura successfully with a powerful attack that seemed to create about a hundred black swords at once. She sped after Crona at top speed as he careened pink head over toes towards the stone wall at a velocity that would definitely break something if he should hit.

Even before she was close enough to catch him, she could hear Ragnarok yelling and cussing as he paddled his wings furiously to try and regain control of their flight.

"You idiot! Don't let him hit us!"

"Sorry! I don't know how to deal with him!"

"Oh shut up already!"

"But…he's kind of freaky!"

"You big crybaby!"

Maka finally managed to snag Crona's foot and stopped him from running headfirst into the wall of the cave by reversing their momentum on a dime and going full throttle backwards.

"Thanks Maka…"

"Yeah, thanks Miss Pigtails." Came Ragnarok, and she scowled at him for the new nickname.

Black dragon wings finally took control of their airborne position, and both meisters turned back to the battle. Unfortunately it was to a really terrifying sight. The Kishin was apparently displaying a new attack, one which involved vomiting loads of high powered black lightning. Black Star must have really done something to piss him off to draw such a reaction out of the god. Even Black Star couldn't hold up under the assault, especially since he was once again snagged in a bandage and the blast was literally right in his face.

"Black Star!" Maka yelled at the same time Soul shouted, "Shit!" and they instantly made a beeline for their friend.

She almost expected to sense and see his soul get snuffed out, but strangely that didn't happen. In fact, when the lightning stopped, he didn't even look really hurt, though his eyes were watering and he appeared pretty singed. Then, to everyone's shock, he opened his mouth and all that lightning – which he had apparently swallowed or just stuffed in his cheeks chipmunk style – came shooting right back out at the Kishin. Maka had to swerve to avoid some of the extra bolts bouncing off him.

Under such an assault, the Kishin almost seemed shaken and muttered over and over, "My, my, how scary, how scary, to think that a human has such power…how frightening."

Again, Maka couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, but somehow it didn't seem that way. It was more like he was acknowledging that Black Star was scary…which for him was fascinating.

Once Black Star had spat everything he'd been given back in the enemy's face, he grinned and said, "If a god can do it so can I!" …. and then promptly vomited up some blood.

"That can't be good…" Maka heard Soul mutter, and she agreed.

Asura threw Black Star up into the ceiling, which cracked under the massive blow and their comrade fell to the ground, where he lay still for a long moment. His soul shuddered just a little as he struggled to hang onto consciousness. Soul bolstered him with a fresh dose of his own chaotic wavelength, and he managed to stay awake thankfully.

It was a good thing that Kid was done charging up his cannons and his third ring of white had finally connected, because Maka wasn't sure how much longer they would have lasted. Soul directed all his focus into boosting Kid's power and everyone took cover as Kid's cannons let out a backlash of power that went straight up as he hit critical mass. The blaze blew apart the ceiling and shot up into the sky, a beacon that would hopefully make it easy for everyone to find them. Energy gathered around him in a dangerous crackling aura, ionizing the air and making everyone's hair stand on end. It was an awe inspiring sight, and Maka briefly wondered if the power contained within that blast would take them all out along with the Kishin.

When the ends of Kid's cannon finally lit up, it was with the light and immense power of a nuke. Tsubaki dragged Black Star out of the way with his shadow, and everyone hid behind rocks and boulders scattered through the cave as they all got blasted with excess heat and power. It crashed into the Kishin and knocked him back, plastering him against the wall of the cave and then disintegrating the rock around him, driving him further and further into bedrock as deeper and deeper cracks started spiderwebbing out from the place of impact. All three of his eyes were wide and he started laughing, predictably saying, "Ooooh, how scary!"

Apparently Asura was either addicted to fear or was simply fascinated with it…which sort of made sense given who he was and what he did to everyone who came close to him. His wavelength of insanity was legendary, and for good reason. Now they were getting a good look at just what made him so insane…fear apparently, and he was getting blasted by the incarnation of fear.

If what he had said about Kid was correct and their friend had been created out of Lord Death's fears, then maybe he had a chance against his "older brother."

Maka could feel all the other wavelengths even remotely close to them take notice and start coming their way. They had already been coming, thanks to Blaire's flare, but now they really started to hustle. Meanwhile, she had been waiting at the mouth of the cave to usher in backup as they arrived, but with that blast she started making her way back to them as well.

It took a good few minutes for Kid to exhaust himself. Finally, he collapsed to his knees, panting from exertion, and Pattie and Liz transformed back into their normal pistol forms.

Still chuckling, Asura peeled himself off the wall and then fell out of the deep hole he'd been plastered into. He was a little bit beaten up, but not nearly as much as you'd expect. Really, Maka would have thought that blast would be enough to disintegrate almost anything. It was their strongest attack, and at the moment was their best option for defeating him…which meant Kid was going to have to recover and do it all over again, and then again if need be.

Naturally, that also meant they needed to distract the Kishin once again.

"Alright Dumbass! Over here!" She yelled, zipping forward and successfully managing to get Asura's attention by slamming the butt of Soul's pole into the side of his face as she zipped by. He whipped around and glared at her as she zoomed by, and then she found herself having to dodge a whole mess of bandages trying to catch her.

" _Your turn,"_ she soul-spoke to Crona, and Soul joined in with his piano boosting both of them.

She glanced back to see Crona distracting Asura from his side with a barrage of sonic blasts before flying off. Once the Kishin's attention was split, Maka dove back in, this time kicking him upside the head as she passed by. Black Star managed to peel himself off the ground and joined in with some volleys of black shuriken.

None of them were even scratching him though, but at least they were managing to successfully distract him from Kid as he recharged.

Soon, back-up had arrived in the form of Blaire as she ran back in through the tunnel, and then Stein as he dropped down through the hole in the ceiling.

Blaire yowled a war cry that sounded halfway terrified, halfway enraged, and all the way feral. "Paws off you creepy mummy!" She instantly started bombarding him with pumpkin cannons.

Stein's entrance was a little more toned down. All he did upon landing was to push up his glasses with one finger and casually swung Spirit up onto his shoulder.

"Well, well. It looks like my students found you first. Good job you lot."

"Thank god…" Maka muttered, feeling a wave of relief seeing the mad scientist and their resident magical cat. With them here, they had a real chance at keeping the Kishin occupied without any of them dying.

Stein soon joined in on the attacks as well, and Maka struggled to add him to their joint resonance. It was a bit tough, considering how big and unwieldy his wavelength was, but through their web, they managed to connect him to some degree. Blaire's was somewhat easier, simply because they lived in close quarters with her and were super familiar with her wavelength, but it was also on a completely different frequency from theirs, so it also posed a problem for them. They eventually managed to get everyone on the same network at least, even if they were all resonating together at completely different rates.

Soul was hard-pressed to power up everyone's attacks in proper sequence, but he did his best while still resonating with Maka and performing as her weapon and transportation.

At that point, things got a little chaotic.

Soon they had an all out brawl, where everyone was going at the Kishin and getting knocked back. Maka and Soul eventually got hit too, even with their speed. They had just gone in for another Demon Hunter slash, when Asura managed to snag one of Maka's ankles with a bandage and slung her around and back, slamming her into the wall. She hit with a resounding bang, and then the Kishin made it worse as he turned and aimed his palm at her, hitting her with a massive madness wavelength – the weight of which pinned her to the wall. It felt like the gravity had been increased once again, and she had the unpleasant sensation that she was going to be crushed as the wall around her cracked under the immense pressure being exerted on her body.

Everything hurt, and as Asura clenched his fist, the gravity increased exponentially, until she felt her ribs creaking under the pressure. She couldn't move. Couldn't even breathe. Pain shocked her system as a rib gave way and snapped under duress, and she didn't even hear her own scream of pain. She certainly didn't hear as several different people called her name desperately. By the time thorny black vines crept across her body and shot up the bandage towards Asura, she couldn't even see them. It wasn't until after the pressure suddenly released and those inky tendrils were taking all her weight that she noticed them. With a gasp and a small cringe, she flinched back from the prickly touch, only to realize that there was no pain, even though the vines clearly displayed sharp thorns that should be ripping her skin to pieces. She stare wide eyed at them and then up at Crona, who was now hovering in front of her. The black rose vines came from him, holding her up.

She stared up their length, noting how they had traveled up the bandage that had previously grabbed her, only to shred it and then land on Asura, ripping into him. He actually looked moderately concerned as the black, thorny vines wrapped around him and he tried to fight them off with his bandages to no avail. Soon they had wrapped tightly around him, tearing into his skin and causing what looked like black rain to fall to the ground. They didn't stop at that though, they just kept wrapping, until they had covered his entire body, not leaving an inch exposed, and then kept going even further until they had formed a floating black ball…one that was quite familiar to Soul and Maka. It reeked of madness and the stench of black blood.

It was at that moment that Crona finally turned to look at Maka, and she recoiled just a little at the sight of insanity in his eyes.

"Sorry Maka…I know you don't like me to use the black blood…"

She was actually impressed he managed an intelligible sentence with the mad smile and chuckles now escaping him. Ragnarok grew in his hand, the blade lengthening and thickening and an extra pair of arms sprouted from his shoulders under the wings - which also grew in size. From each hand sprouted a new sword, until he was wielding three, one from each unnatural hand, and one from his own hand, while the spare one gripped onto the other arm as usual. A high pitched shriek of resonance made everyone cringe as it grated across their souls like nails on a chalk board.

"It's okay Crona…it seems to be working." Maka managed to cough, wincing as just the act of speaking taxed her lungs and ribs.

"Not really…I think he's going to…" Crona muttered, turning back to Asura as suddenly the ball started to shrink. Sure enough, it was dwindling, and the rose vines started getting drawn in, as if to a vacuum. Before Maka could do anything, before she even knew what was happening, Crona himself was getting yanked into the ball of black blood, which was quickly getting sucked into the Kishin. Suddenly, he was gone, just like that… absorbed into the Kishin's body without a trace.

"Crona!" She yelled, but it was too late, and she went plummeting to the ground as the last black tendrils were consumed.

Soul caught her of course, and she grunted with pain as her body came to a jarring halt atop his thin metal length.

"Now what do we do?"

She felt Soul shrug, since he was also at a loss. Soon though, a new voice from inside his soul gave them an idea as Stein and the others renewed their attacks.

"You can't fight _**that**_ without the black blood. You can't fight madness with sanity. It just won't work…as you yourselves know."

It was the same sort of argument that had been used against them before, when fighting Crona, and they had used it when fighting Arachne as well. Once again, the little red demon might have a point.

"Soul…maybe if we use the black blood, we can go inside him too. If we can find Crona, maybe we can save him."

He was predictably unsure about it - but like her, he saw the merit in fighting fire with fire. After all, it had worked for them before. Eventually he muttered, "Yeah. And maybe we can kill this guy from the inside out. Attacking him from the outside sure as hell ain't working." He didn't sound happy about it though.

It seemed like a completely crazy idea, but as Kid attacked with an even more powerful cannon blast - which they all had to take cover from - and once again it didn't even seem to faze the Kishin, this last ditch crazy plan seemed to be their only viable option. So, they broadcasted it through their joint wavelength to everyone. Unsurprisingly, the others were skeptical, but they all agreed that it might be their only chance. So they agreed to do what they could out here, while Maka and Soul would try to go in after Crona.

To do that though, they had to activate the black blood.

So, Soul let the little demon sink its claws into his soul, just a little, and Maka felt the madness welling up within them. At that point, they had to sever their connection to everyone else – which was another huge downside to this plan. Everyone would still be able to do a joint resonance to keep attacking in tandem at the very least, but without Soul's piano to direct them and her purifying wavelength, they would be taking a big step back.

Still, it was the only way, and so they snapped all the lines for the time being. As the black blood slowly seeped into their joined souls, they kept their resonance rate up, even ramping it up further if that was possible, and soon Maka felt that odd sensation of something thick wrapping her limbs. The black dress from back when they had fought Arachne crawled up her body, though this time it also formed little black feathery things from each ponytail – which she couldn't see, but Soul took notice of – and little wings on her heels. Soul transformed as well, shifting from his flying form to a long black scythe with a gleaming white blade…the keys of a piano soon forming as well. Without him supporting her, her Grigori wings spread, though they appeared black instead of their normal gold since her soul was tainted with madness.

This time she and Soul remained in control of the black blood – mostly. There was still the madness present, but Maka's anti-insanity wavelength kept it somewhat in check, while allowing the power of the black blood to come forth.

She dove down at Asura, facing him head on. Under Soul's urging, her hand found the keys on his blade, and he directed her fingers to the chords she needed to play in order to project her soul wavelength out in an attack. Surprisingly, the Kishin cringed back under the assault, perhaps because of her anti-demon wavelength.

Once they were in range, she swung Soul's blade at him, only to stall when Asura's hand went straight through her. The pain was unnatural. She could feel the sensation of something piercing her stomach, and all the associated agony, but strangely it didn't bother her as much as it should have. The madness somehow prevented any fear, or really any negative reaction to the pain. Instead she simply grabbed his arm with one hand and clenched down tight with her fingers as she swung Soul into his middle. He fell back, but it was already too late. Soul was buried hilt deep inside him, and Maka was seeping into him from both his arm and where she also followed Soul.

"So you want to enter me? How scary! Very well, enjoy the depths of madness!" His words were somewhat lost near the end, since Maka was already falling into a deep dark pit.

After a dizzying sensation like being squeezed and turned upside down and inside out, she landed next to Soul, who was also in his soul form like her, both dressed in normal clothing once again.

"So…this is inside the Kishin huh?"

"I guess so."

All it really looked like was a huge, black, empty space. It seemed like a void, with absolutely nothing in it. Aside from madness of course.

Maka was instantly swamped by the insanity coiling over them, beckoning them to fall into it, but she held fast. Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, she stood firm and refused to cower under the assault of utter darkness, absolute fear, and the cold intensity of pure madness and chaos.

First, it felt like clawed fingers raked her body, through her mind, puncturing her in any place they could, and yet she still stood fast. The next sensation to follow was the creepy, crawling sensation of innumerable bugs or vermin of some sort crawling all over her, getting into every orifice and nook and cranny, filling her ears and nose and eyes, eating at her with little claws and teeth and pinchers, stinging her with a million stingers. That was almost too much, and yet she dug deep within herself and pulled forth the essence of her soul, the most powerful light she could bring to the surface to scare off the darkness. Every ounce of courage was put into the force she pressed out of herself, trying to form a shield from her soul. Suddenly, all the fear began to ease, the pain ceased, and the coldness seeped away.

As for Soul, he was just as bad off, if not much worse. Along with every unpleasant sensation that Maka experienced, he also heard all his memories jeering at him. Every ounce of darkness and madness that scarred his soul was burned even more painfully into him, like old brands that were lit anew. Every scar on his soul ached and hurt as fresh as they once did. The darkness consumed him, drove him to his knees where he cowered and cried in absolute terror. That is…up until a wave of warmth washed over him.

At first, he remained in a fetal position, too afraid to look up, but when the darkness didn't return and his fears began to ease as if washed away by warm cleansing rain, he finally opened his eyes. Once he looked, his eyes opened wide in shock and awe. Maka stood there in front of him, her eyes squeezed closed as if in deep concentration. Her fists were clenched tight enough that – had they been in the real world – he knew she would have pierced her skin and would be bleeding freely from her palms. She trembled just a little, as if her entire soul strained against the darkness. All of that was impressive enough, given how hard he had crumbled under the exact same darkness, but what really brought all his thoughts to a complete stand still was the light she was giving off. It didn't travel exactly, there wasn't anything to light up in this space of nothingness, but she glowed so brightly he could barely even look at her. The golden light of her soul shone from her more brightly than he had ever seen before…and her Grigori wings spread wider.

She truly did look like an angel. With massive wings now, ones that were so large they curved over him even – which explained why he felt her soul so clearly – she hovered above the "ground." The power flooding from her cleared every last fear, every last shred of darkness from his soul, and he finally found himself slowly standing, though he felt like he should be kneeling for a different reason now.

"Maka…" He breathed, although he didn't even realize how her name had slipped from him until her eyes opened and she looked at him.

To Maka, it looked like Soul had been stunned. His face was utterly blank, and his eyes were wide and glassy, as if he was utterly shocked or in awe of something. It didn't take her long to figure out what when she glanced to the side and noticed how huge her soul's wings had grown, thanks to her pushing it to the limit. It had taken this exertion for her to drive back the darkness, and it showed in how brightly she shone.

Smiling, she lightly Maka Chopped him to knock him out of his bewildered state.

"Okay, yes, I light up like a Christmas tree. Let's get going, shall we?"

He blinked and seemed to snap back to reality. "Oh. Right. Sure."

Maka turned her attention towards the darkness, using her soul perception to hunt out Crona's soul. To her shock, she could feel everyone else's from in here as well, which filled her with a sense of warmth. Soul lifted a hand, and she took it. Meanwhile, she reached for Crona's soul, finding it much deeper in the madness. Spreading her wings, she took off, Soul holding tight to her hand and being carried along with her. It didn't take long, but then again time itself didn't really have a meaning in this place.

Soon, she saw Crona appear from the darkness, all hunched over in a fetal ball. Even Ragnarok seemed to be silent and had disappeared inside of him for the time being.

As soon as she reached Crona, Maka wrapped her arms around him, her wings too, to encompass him as completely in her purifying soul wavelength as possible. She pushed it into him, cleansing all the darkness from his soul until he shuddered in her hold and pulled back a little.

"Maka…you…you came all the way in here too? Why?" He muttered, looking at her with big baleful gray eyes. He still seemed lost, though she could feel how purely his soul hummed next to her own.

"For you, dummy. Now come on, let's get back to the others." She released him mostly, only keeping hold of his hand and giving it a tug.

He flushed and ducked his head, following along meekly. Then, as if a sudden thought had occurred to him, he jerked and asked, "But how are we going to get back?"

"Oh. Um…" she turned to look out at the sea of blackness surrounding them and was at a loss. Just how were they supposed to find their way out?

"Don't worry about that." Soul said from next to them and gave a slightly cocky smirk. "I got it covered."

To Maka's shock, what looked like a line of music appeared, stretching off into the distance. It glowed blue, the color of his soul, and instead of musical notes, it had people's souls. He had created a bread crumb trail back to the outside world, using all their friend's souls. A grin stretched across her face.

"Soul! You're incredible!"

He flushed a little. "Uh. Yeah. I am." And then cleared his throat, utterly failing to look cool. Instead of teasing him though, she just reached out her free hand and locked onto his.

This time, it was Soul who dragged Maka and Crona behind as his fingers danced along the music. "Get ready!" He shouted as they approached the end of the piece.

Soul and she started to resonate, and as they burst through the exit, their resonance shot through the roof. They had entered thanks to the black blood, but as they exited the black blood was purified from them thanks to Maka's powerful wavelength. Strangely, the black blood – the power and substance of it – stuck around in the form of her black dress. Only, it wasn't black anymore, it turned pure white, along with Soul's hilt. Her wings remained golden and shining and she wielded Soul's piano scythe in an attack, similar to Demon Hunter, but which felt even more powerful. They had stalled out right near the end, and she had to force them through to find their way back into the light and the real world.

Soul's blade took on a brightly glowing, vibrantly multicolored iridescent sheen, and formed into an arrow head almost, like an ax tipped with a point - a form she had never seen before. The power of it hummed up along the hilt and she felt their resonance rate reach some sort of peak as she cut through to the outside world with a wild slash. They burst through in a shower of black blood, Crona following close behind.

As they turned, it was to see Asura crumbling from a gaping wound in his chest. He wheezed and grinned, sputtering "My, my…how…scary…humans are…quite surprising…after all."

As he fell, a final blast from Kid's cannons finished him off, and he disintegrated.

Maka gasped, her white dress fluttering away and leaving her in the army get-up. She was immediately struggling to clamber back onto soul as they took a dip down to earth, and her ribs started to send sharp pains through her chest again. They landed rather harshly, alongside Crona, who landed on his knees and threw up. Ragnarok had spit out wings and managed to slow his descent a little, but not too much, which suggested even the crazy black sword was shaken by what had transpired.

"Is it…is it over?" she wheezed, wrapping an arm around her middle and wincing with pain.

"…Yep." Soul said with a sigh and transformed out of his scythe form to practically pass out next to her.

* * *

Author's Note:

Alrighty! Aaaaand that's the grand finale folks! I hope it met everyone's expectations!

Never fear though, there will be one more chapter to wrap everything up and...as I like to generally do, have a final love scene to end on a lovely lemony fresh note.

I'm super sad to be seeing this story wrapping up, but I've already got another one on the way, so hopefully it won't be too long of a hiatus. However, that one will be for Fairy Tail, so if any of you out there like that anime/manga keep your eyes peeled for it. :D Hopefully I'll see some familiar faces in the reviews.

Anyways, as always a HUGE thanks to everyone who reviewed. We definitely reached the five needed for a little sneak peak, so let's take a look at the next chappie shall we?

* * *

 _"Soul? What's going on?"_

 _He buried his face into her shoulder. After a few deep breaths to try and regain some sort of cool, he grumbled, "Nothing…just glad we're home is all."_

 _She melted back against him and shook the water from her hands before wiping the rest off onto her shirt. Then, with still slightly damp fingers, she hugged his arms that were wrapped around her middle._

 _"Yeah. Me too," she whispered back._

 _He relaxed his grip a little when she started squirming, but she just turned around to face him and he wrapped himself back around her in a way that probably would be considered uncool and kind of desperate under normal circumstances._

 _Looking up at him, she smiled and then reached up to finger his bangs, which had gotten messy from burying his head in her shoulder._

 _"You okay?"_

 _Soul decided to answer her question with a kiss._


	32. Chapter 32

After the battle, naturally there were worldwide celebrations. Death Academy was no exception. The day after, a huge party took place, where everyone overindulged in food, drinks, and just about everything else. Everyone was giddy at having beaten the Kishin.

Maka was still exhausted from fighting and her ribs were still beyond sore – despite Stein doing some sort of fancy stitching which had removed a lot of the sharpest pain – so the celebrations passed by in something of a dizzy whirlwind for her. All the noise and people just mixed together into a weird hodgepodge in her head. It was fun for a while, but before long she was practically passing out.

Naturally Soul noticed, and it wasn't long before she felt him gently dragging her away from the party. He loaded her up onto his motorcycle and they were heading back home before she knew what was going on, but she dutifully squeezed him and held on tight as he sped them towards their apartment. Soon, the motor was turning off and she was opening her eyes to the sight of their apartment building.

Soul helped her up the stairs, and it was only then when she started to realize just how unsteady she really was.

Once inside, Soul helped her into the bathroom, muttering softly, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up and then packed off to bed."

"M-Kay…"

He turned on the shower and she clumsily started working on getting out of her clothes. It took some assistance from Soul's deft fingers to get everything off, and then he was doing the same for himself and following her into the shower. She didn't mind at all. The only slightly embarrassing thing about it was that she was just so clumsy with exhaustion that she actually needed the help. After the fifth time of dropping the soap, Soul just sighed and grabbed it from her and lathered up the loofa for her. She pouted a little, but let him do it, because at this point she mainly just wanted to go ahead and get into bed.

Between the two of them, they got her scrubbed down and removed all the blood and dirt from the battlefield off her skin, then she was toweled off briskly and Soul ran out of the room to grab her pajamas. Once she was dressed for bed, he bundled her up and they both collapsed onto Soul's mattress, which happened to be the closest one to the bathroom.

Snuggling up to his warmth, she drifted immediately into a very solid sleep.

It was at least twelve hours later that she finally peeled her eyes open again. With a groan, she managed to untangle herself from Soul, who was of course still asleep. If given the chance he would probably sleep all day. She, however, needed some food. So, without further ado, she got ready for the day, feeling refreshed from her extra long sleep.

The wounds from her battle were already healing over thanks to their resident mad scientist and didn't bother her as she prepared breakfast. Surprisingly, the smell of it was enough to get Soul out of bed, and before she had to go on an expedition to get him, he was already appearing at his door rubbing sleep from his eyes. She blinked slightly in shock at his appearance.

"What are you doing up?"

"I woke up when you got out of bed." He explained with a jaw cracking yawn.

"But you never wake up that easily…"

He snorted and pointed at the clock. "Maybe because it's actually a decent hour to get up for once."

She glanced at the clock and noted with surprise that it was after noon. She must have been even more exhausted than she'd thought, to sleep so late.

"Well…whatever. Breakfast is almost ready." She grumbled and turned back to the pan of eggs and bacon.

It was on the table shortly, and they tucked in.

As they finished up and Maka turned to take the dishes to the sink, Soul stared after her. Now that he was actually starting to wake up, things were beginning to sink in. Maybe it was because of the insanely normal setting, but suddenly the fact that they were back home hit him like a sucker punch to the gut. Unlike Maka, he had refused to let himself worry about stupid shit, like if they would get back in one piece, but now that it was all over he started to realize that maybe he'd been more worried than he had thought.

Why it was hitting him now, he had no clue. It seemed like a really weird time to suddenly get all emotional, but it wasn't like he had much choice in the matter. It just sorta happened without this permission. All of a sudden, he was slapped across with the face with the fact that they'd gone to war, kicked ass, and were now home again safe and sound.

Before he even knew what he was doing, he was behind Maka and had his arms wrapped tight around her. She tensed up and froze in place, obviously surprised by the sudden embrace.

"Soul? What's going on?"

He buried his face into her shoulder. After a few deep breaths to try and regain some sort of cool, he grumbled, "Nothing…just glad we're home is all."

She melted back against him and shook the water from her hands before wiping the rest off onto her shirt. Then, with still slightly damp fingers, she hugged his arms that were wrapped around her middle.

"Yeah. Me too," she whispered back.

He relaxed his grip a little when she started squirming, but she just turned around to face him and he wrapped himself back around her in a way that probably would be considered uncool and kind of desperate under normal circumstances.

Looking up at him, she smiled and then reached up to finger his bangs, which had gotten messy from burying his head in her shoulder.

"You okay?"

Soul decided to answer her question with a kiss. It obviously surprised her…and actually it surprised him too. He hadn't exactly planned to lip lock at this particular moment, it had sorta happened. Still, now that their mouths were mashed together, he wasn't complaining, and took full advantage. Once she got over her surprise, she joined in too.

Maybe the weird urgency that he felt rubbed off on her, because soon she seemed just as desperate as he was and the kiss quickly got out of control. One of his hands was buried in her hair and the other grabbed her back, fisting into the material of her shirt to get her as close as he possibly could. It felt like he couldn't get enough of her, as if something stupid in him wasn't quite convinced that she was okay and needed to verify it through touch.

The kiss was probably messier and rougher than any they had engaged in since their first kiss.

Thankfully Maka was on board with it. In fact, she seemed just as eager as he was, and in a surprising move she grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and walked him back into the nearest wall. He abruptly found himself pinned in place by a very powerful meister, who he'd apparently triggered some sort of nuclear reaction in. Maybe he shouldn't be so surprised – she had been more worried about them making it back safe than he had, so it was only natural that she'd have a stronger reaction.

He certainly didn't mind. She seemed way less in control of herself than usual, which he was loving for however long it lasted. It seemed to translate into being more aggressive, and he was perfectly fine with that. Actually it was downright hot as far as he was concerned.

They were both so wrapped up in the kiss, that they didn't hear the door open or the entrance of a certain black cat, who stopped and stared. A smirk worked across her pink lips and she closed the door behind her quietly so as to not disturb them, then transformed into her smaller cat form so she wouldn't be noticed as she slunk to the couch.

It was good to see her kittens getting along so well, and she settled down on a cushion to watch and relax.

As for Soul and Maka, they completely missed Blaire's presence, and after a little while, Soul eased himself off the wall and started walking backwards towards the nearest bedroom, which happened to be hers. They thudded into the door and he fumbled behind him to try and undo the nob. That turned out to be difficult to do with a mouthful of Maka, because it was incredibly tough to concentrate on anything other than her tongue and lips. Somehow though, he managed, and they fell back through the open door. They probably would have tumbled to the floor, if Soul hadn't transformed one arm into his hilt and thrust it into the ground at the last second. That stabilized him enough to stop falling, though their kiss was broken from the jarring motion. Thankfully it didn't knock Maka out of her groove, and he was pretty sure he was incapable of being distracted, even if the apartment building came crashing down around them. Nothing was keeping him from being with Maka.

Once his balance was caught, he transformed his arm back into an arm, and stumbled back until they fell backwards onto the bed, Maka on top of course.

Neither of them noticed how the bedroom door clicked closed, shut by a smirking cat as she gave them some privacy.

Clothes started coming off pretty quick after that, and Soul wasn't entirely sure who took off what, and he frankly didn't give a fuck. All he was interested in was getting down to skin as fast as possible, and thankfully Maka seemed okay with that…probably because he didn't give her a chance to think too much about it. In fact, he didn't even give her the time to fully take off her shirt before his hands were up under it undoing her bra and then coming around to the front to play with her breasts.

She rolled her hips against his, and he hissed at the single instance of friction. It fried his brain more than a little. Sitting up, he pulled her close, and then somehow they had wiggled up into the middle of the bed and he had rolled her over – which might not have been the smartest idea really. If he had been thinking more clearly, he probably would have let her stay on top, because she was definitely more comfortable there. Still, she didn't seem too opposed to him being on top, though he did note that she stiffened a little bit, especially as he helped her get her shirt and bra off. Her skirt had already disappeared somehow, and he was left in pants that were unbuttoned and loose on his hips.

As for Maka, being flipped on her back had made her realize just how out of control she'd gotten, and she instantly worked on dialing things back down to a manageable level. It was kind of shocking just how aggressive she had unintentionally become, and it was like a bucket of cold water. Soul didn't exactly give her the time to think too much about it though, because he was still kissing her, and it was dragging her back into it. Their soul sync was wide open, and she could feel just how desperate he was for physical contact. It was that same desperation that had sparked something deep within her and made her respond almost out of instinct.

She understood the feelings of wanting to touch and get as close she possible could, because she felt them too. After that crazy fight and worrying about not even coming back alive, it was like a miracle to be here in bed with him again, safe and sound. Through their soul sync, she knew he wanted to use physical contact to reassure himself that she was okay …but also knew it intimately simply because she felt the exact same way.

Because of that it was harder for her to regulate herself. Her emotions were out of control. Her hands also seemed to have sprouted a mind of their own as they unclasped from his hair and started rubbing across his body from shoulders to chest, only to wrap around and grab onto his back. She couldn't seem to get them to sit still anywhere, the urge to touch as much of him as possible was just too strong.

Things didn't get any easier for her as Soul's hands continued to work magic on her chest and his tongue twined with hers. At least when his mouth disengaged from hers to travel down her neck she was able to try and catch her breath. It didn't really work though, especially not as his lips latched onto her chest in place of one hand. The free hand then started traveling south, and she wasn't quite able to keep herself from twisting and squirming a little as his fingers teasingly tickled over the sensitive skin of her stomach. He chuckled, the vibrations playing against her nipple, and she growled a little at him and yanked on his hair for tickling her.

Her response only seemed to amuse him further and he snorted in mirth, which only aggravated her more. When he indulged in more tickles across her abs, she brought up a knee and tried to buck him off, which had his hand flattening out on her belly to pin her down. The flat palm didn't tickle, so her body started to relax, only to tense up again as he slid it down further and snagged his fingers in her underwear. It got yanked off with some scrambles and a foot, but his mouth had once again latched onto hers to thoroughly distract her from what was going on, and she was helpless but to engage in the kiss. Her hands fisted in his hair and held him to her much rougher than she had intended. He wasn't exactly complaining though - if anything the tighter grip spurred a groan from his lips.

She was finding it harder and harder to stay on top of everything with her emotions running wild like this and her body feeling like it was on fire. So when she felt his fingers slip between her thighs and one found her entrance and slid inside, it startled a gasp and a very small moan from her lips. The sound shocked her so much that she jerked back and bit her lip. His mouth drifted to the corner of hers, pressing kisses and then nipping her chin.

There was something shocking about having his finger inside her, something even more intimate than she would have expected from it. Plus it felt good. And she found herself pressing her palm over her mouth, worried that another small sound would escape her without permission, while her brows scrunched in a slightly aggravated scowl.

For Soul, that was both amusing and annoying, because he really wanted to hear more little moans like the first. Determined to get them, he worked a second finger in alongside the first, and a groan of his own rumbled out of his chest. The feel of her was enough to almost make him want to explode on the spot, and he found it necessary to shake his pants off his legs to let his erection have a little more room. His boxers were stretchy, so he was able to breathe a little easier at least.

Still, as he moved his fingers and explored the heat and wetness inside her, it left him panting into her shoulder and wondering just how long he was going to last like this. It wasn't exactly cool to get this excited over just fingering her, but he couldn't really help it. Thinking fast, he summoned up a few sobering images to lessen his arousal just a little – like Kid obsessing over symmetry, a drunk Patty, and Spirit doing…anything really – and then he let himself get back to business. He set up a slow easy rhythm and hunted down her clit with his thumb.

She jerked and then tensed, obviously trying to wrestle herself back under control. It was obvious that she had lost a lot of that control though this time, and he felt relatively hopeful that he could get her to lose the rest of it with enough persuasion.

He intentionally widened their resonance so he could get a better feel for what she liked and also to force-feed her his own lust and excitement. It seemed to work, because another itty bitty sound snuck out of her throat and he felt her squeeze his fingers, which was so hot that he couldn't quite resist drooling on the pillow a bit. With a slurp he relocated his mouth to the skin of her chest and tried to keep his drool to himself as he tongued her breasts.

After a little while her thighs twitched and then squeezed closed and she winced a little. He pulled his hand back and asked, "Sorry, was I being too rough?"

"Just your thumb."

He made a mental note that the pressure he had been using was too much for her clit and lightened it significantly when he slid his hand back in between her legs. "Is this better?"

She flushed and nodded, and he couldn't help but grin at her. She was so fucking cute when she blushed like that.

After a bit more playing with her, she started getting fidgety and then finally pushed him back. He sat up a bit and blinked down at her, taking in how fast her chest was rising and falling and how flushed she'd gotten.

"What's up?"

"Come on Soul…can we just get to the sex part already!?" She asked, sounding incredibly flustered and slightly frustrated.

He instantly knew that she was trying to avoid too much stimulation again, just like last time, but that just wasn't going to fly with him. He'd already gotten her to promise to let him make her orgasm this time around, and he was going to hold her to that. Still, he pulled his hand back so she would chill out a bit. When she sighed a little and he could visibly see her muscles relax, he just couldn't resist giving her a smirk.

"Not yet Maka. We've got some more stuff to do first."

That got her stiffening again, and a chuckle snuck out of his throat at how much she looked like a deer in the headlights. She really was super cute when she was all freaked out and flustered like this. As long as there wasn't any fear in her eyes of course.

"Uh…what do you mean?"

He barely heard her question though, because his attention had been thoroughly diverted by the wetness coating his fingers. It was amazing that this clear slippery stuff had all come from her, and he peered at it closely as he rubbed his fingers together. His eyes widened when a long shiny string of it stretched between his fingers as he separated them.

"Soul!" Maka protested, and he risked a glance up to see her staring at him and his fingers with something like shock and maybe a little bit of horror or disgust.

"What?"

"Don't…don't _play_ with it! That's gross!"

He just rolled his eyes, because of course she would think it was gross. He just found it strange and fascinating, and really hot to be honest.

"Fine...fine…I'll stop." He mumbled and wondered where he was going to wipe his hand off. Then a thought occurred to him and without thinking too much about it, he followed through with it.

When he popped his fingers in his mouth though, Maka squawked and fussed, as he knew she would, but he ignored her for the moment, focusing instead on his mouth and the things going on inside it. She tasted pretty much the way he remembered, mostly like nothing much at all, but maybe with a hint of salt. Really, it was the texture that made it so great, and he instantly wanted to have more. As his eyes zeroed in on her pussy, Maka instantly clenched her legs closed and raised the volume of her protests, obviously because she knew what he was thinking.

"No. No way. We're not doing that."

As he hunkered down lower on the bed and crouched over her thighs, he mumbled, "Why not?" against the skin of her belly.

"Because I said so!"

"Come on Maka…it'll feel good…" He hoped it would anyways.

"Yeah but…" she started, but cut off on a squeak when he snaked his tongue along the crease of her swimsuit line. There was blond fuzz there, but he didn't mind. When a hair got stuck in his mouth he just licked her thigh to remove it.

"This'll probably be the easiest way to get you to cum." He pointed out and then followed the statement with a light nip to her hip.

She jumped and when he glanced up she was flushed again and fidgeting. "U-um…I'm not sure about…"

The fact that her words were choppy hopefully meant that he was getting through to her, and he risked a little lick to the top of her cleft where he could reach with her closed thighs. That got a pretty dramatic jerk from her and she gasped. When he did it again and snaked his tongue deeper between her closed thighs, it got a similar result and her legs shivered a little. When he slipped his fingers between her thighs and gave one a gentle tug she actually relaxed it just a little and let him part her legs some. Even so, getting her to really go along with this was going to take some persuasion, he could tell.

When she started up again with less and less convincing protests, he ducked his head down and took another long gentle lick along her lips, which got some cussing from her and a little hip buck that downright delighted him. His dick was throbbing demandingly in his shorts, but he ignored it for the moment.

As for Maka, she was finding it harder and harder to convince herself to say no to this, because with every lick she got a better and better idea of just how good it was going to feel. His tongue was just so soft in comparison with her own callused fingers, or even his softer fingers, and it felt so much better because of it. Any friction she felt was smooth and silky, and there was no roughness to detract from it, which sometimes could make her clit sore.

She actually wanted to let him go down on her now, but of course her inhibitions were still holding her back. There was a really good chance she might orgasm from this, and that was still a somewhat worrying thought. Still, it was going to happen eventually, and she _had_ promised Soul that she would let him try making her orgasm when they got back from the moon…so she didn't really have the right to protest. Still, she couldn't quite help but put up a bit of a fight, such as it was.

As he eased her legs open a little more, she put some tension in them to keep them where they were. He heaved a sigh and nipped her thigh a little. "Ease up there a little, Maka. Remember, you agreed to let me make you orgasm…"

She hissed in a breath at the reminder, not that she had forgotten, and growled under her breath but let him push her legs open more. At least she wasn't scared, the only discomfort was a little bit of dread mixed with jitters. She honestly didn't know if she could go through with this, but he deserved for her to at least give it a try. If she freaked out, she'd have to stop him though.

He wedged in even tighter and as soon as she relaxed her legs he shoved them apart eagerly. At the first lick, she was already reconsidering this idea. This might turn out to be more dangerous than she had assumed. As her legs twitched, Soul seemed to pick up on her second thoughts and immediately hunched closer, shoving his shoulders in between her knees to keep them apart. She hissed, not exactly pleased, but tried to stay calm and collected – which was already an impossible task since she'd left those two things behind about thirty minutes ago. Still, she tried to stay as composed as possible, even with Soul's mouth lodged in her private bits.

His tongue was really hard to ignore though, and she found herself fighting her body as he explored her thoroughly. He licked, sucked, kissed, and probably drooled over every bit of skin down there, and it all felt pretty good. It was relatively manageable though, and Maka was just starting to relax and realize that this wasn't too different from when he had explored her with fingers, when he suddenly found her entrance with his tongue. For most people, she couldn't imagine that a tongue would provide too much pleasure as a penetration device, however Soul was a bit different. It was already abundantly clear to her that his tongue was long, especially with all the tongue kissing they had indulged in, but he hadn't ever used the full length in her mouth since it would have choked her. Now though, was a perfect opportunity for him to utilize every bit of it and he took full advantage, much to her overall shock.

Really she should have expected it, but the thought strangely hadn't ever occurred to her. Now though, she was very much aware of the potential and couldn't quite keep down a squeak of surprise as she felt the odd sensation which quickly proved to be pleasurable in an incredibly strange way. A tongue could move in ways that fingers and certainly a penis could not. It could roll, turn, rotate, curl, and ripple in all sorts of strange and wonderful ways. Plus, he could reach surprisingly deep with that unnatural tongue of his. Despite her best efforts, she couldn't quite prevent herself from squirming around a little and a couple of small sounds managed to sneak out of her mouth.

He kept that up for a maddeningly long amount of time, before finally moving on to other things. She only had a few seconds to relax though, before he hunted around and then latched onto her clit. Over all, it was similar to when he had explored her with fingers the first time they had done this, because he just couldn't seem to settle on a particular speed, pressure, rhythm, or anything at all really. All his tongue's movements were totally random, as if he was just trying to figure out what felt good and not having a clue. Almost everything he tried felt good, although a few things were way too intense.

Over all though, he was definitely succeeding in driving her absolutely crazy. The ball of heat in her lower belly had wound so tight she though it might drive her nuts. If he would just settle on something and stick with it, she probably would have orgasmed within a minute at this point. Even though she didn't necessarily want to, the insane tension was getting so frustrating that her body was starting to override her higher thinking on the matter.

It grew harder and harder to control her fidgeting and squirming as he continued to torment her unintentionally, and soon she was incapable of not bucking up into his mouth or twisting into his hands. It was embarrassing - or would have been if she'd been left enough brainpower to think logically - but her mind seemed to have completely gone down the drain. After being forced to get this aroused, her body had pretty much taken over and was single-mindedly pursuing release, despite the leftover bits of her inhibitions that were shouting in the back of her mind that she was acting way too slutty.

As for Soul, he could tell that she was close. Both the soul sync and the way her body twitched and twisted told him that she was on the edge, but no matter what he did he just couldn't seem to push her that last little bit and it was obvious that she was starting to get desperate. As much as he loved driving her up the wall and how she seemed to have completely lost her precious control, he also wanted to help her reach that final peak.

Through their soul sync he could feel her mounting frustration and got the distinct sense that he was doing something both right and wrong, so after a few more minutes he surfaced, licking his lips. Getting straight to the point, he admitted, "I know I'm doing something wrong. Tell me what you need."

She was completely out of breath, so it took a moment for her to respond. Irritatingly she wasn't overly helpful. "Y-you know I don't want to orgasm…so why would I tell you how to do it?"

Given her tone of voice and the way her body bucked and fidgeted, somehow Soul had a hard time believing her. "I dunno, Maka. You really look like you wanna cum." He punctuated the statement with another lick to her clit, which got a groan and some more squirming from her. He couldn't quite resist grinning and rubbed it in a little. "See? Now how about helping me out here? Or I can just keep doing this and keep you on the edge for hours."

She winced. After a long pause she sighed and seemed to finally give up. "Fine…just settle on a rhythm and stick with it. You keep switching around so much I can't do anything."

Ah. So that was the problem. She needed consistency. "Alright…then tell me when I find something you like and I'll stick with it."

She groaned and obviously didn't want to comply. So he decided to just stick with the first technic that he started with when ducking back down, which happened to be circles. She definitely seemed to like it, based on the way her hips pressed up against him, and he quickly looped an arm across her pelvis to try and steady her. Putting all his weight on that elbow – which was pushed down into the mattress next to her hip – he used his free hand to slide a couple of fingers inside as well, which made her buck and a small sound came from her chest.

Widening his soul link with her, he tuned in to her body and felt how she was building up fast to an orgasm. Right before she gave into it though, he decided to be a little bit of an ass and stopped, pulling a whine from her as he looked up to give her a broad grin.

"Is this good?" He asked, licking his lips and knowing full well that it was, but wanting her to admit it.

She glared at him, looking incredulous, and spat, "Yeah, and you know it too. So why are you stopping to ask me?"

That pulled an even wider grin. Impatient Maka was hot, and he felt a throb in his dick confirm it.  
"I just wanted to make sure…" he answered, trying to sound innocent and went back to what he was doing before. She jerked and hissed as he restarted, and he felt her teeter on the edge again almost instantly.

Deciding to be an even bigger jerk, he stopped again, which pulled some really nasty curses from her. Putting another innocent expression on his face, he asked, "So will this make you cum?"

If she could have Maka Chopped him through a look alone, he would be bleeding from the head by now with the glare she sent him this time. "Yes!" she hissed venomously, her sexual frustration dripping from the word. "You know it will! Why do you keep stopping?!"

He couldn't quite resist chuckling, and then dipped back down to resume licking her. She sighed and bucked into his mouth so hard he jerked back, worried that his teeth would nick her. Pressing down harder with his arm across her hips, he pinned her down to try and keep her safe from his shark teeth as he worked her with his mouth. Almost instantly she was ready to orgasm, he could feel how she was right on the edge through their soul link. After just a couple of seconds though he backed off again, just because he couldn't resist it, even though he knew that he risked getting kicked in the face for being a bastard.

Putting a fake-worried expression on his face, he asked, "Look, I know you're not fully comfortable with orgasming, so…if you want to back out you can. I can stop now if you want."

He wouldn't have given her the option if he thought she was capable of taking him up on it, because he knew full-well that she was way too close and way too sexually mad to not go through with cumming. Literally one touch was all it would take, she was that close.

Her jaw dropped, and she stared at him with wide eyes full of shock, but that quickly switched to anger and her teeth clicked together again and gritted as she glared. He knew that she knew he was teasing her because of how hard she'd made it for him to get her here. Until he heard her say that she wanted to orgasm, he wasn't going to let her have it, and hopefully that would break her out of this stupid worry about being a slut or whatever.

All she said was, "You're being an _**ass,**_ Soul, get on with it already!"

He ducked back down to give her a couple more licks, just enough to bring her right to the edge once more, and then backed off again. One of her legs jerked, like she was seriously thinking about kicking him – which he kind of deserved at this point.

"So you wanna orgasm then?" he asked, and got a growl in response.

When she didn't say anything, he repeated the move, and this time her leg really did rear up like she was just going to kick him off the bed. He snagged his arm around it and wrestled her back to the mattress as he stopped yet again, and looked up, taking in her bright red flush that went all the way down her chest and her wild eyes.

"I don't wanna force you to do anything you don't want to do. So you're going to have to tell me you want to cum." He said seriously… but really it was only half serious.

When she struggled with it and he caught a flash of anxiety in her eyes, he hurried to add, "Look, enjoying sex with the person you love and wanting to orgasm doesn't make you a slut. Sluts go around having sex with everyone…and you're only gonna do it with me. So just chill out and let yourself enjoy it. Tell me you wanna cum…"

He dipped back down to bring her back to the edge again, since he could feel her flagging arousal through their link. It took less than a minute to get her right back to where he wanted her, and then he pulled back up – getting a deep groan from her and a full-body shudder. "Let me make you feel good Maka…I wanna see you cum…It's just us. You can let yourself go around me."

Another full body shudder shook her, and then finally she gave in…and he literally felt the last barrier between them shatter through their soul sync as she let herself relax completely. It was like a piece of her soul, a little dark piece that had been tainting her experience, just broke away and dissolved.

"Alright, Soul…"

Dipping down to give her another flick of his tongue he popped right back up, and said, "Alright what?"

Abruptly she was mad again. "I said alright! Go ahead and make me orgasm! I want you to! Now stop being a jerk!" The leg that he had immobilized by hooking over his shoulder kicked, and her heel smacked down into his back, which he was sure would leave a bruise. After a brief wince, he couldn't quite help but chuckle just a little at it, thinking that this was a side of Maka he would never get tired of.

Without saying another word, he ducked back down and set back to business.

For Maka, with all his pussyfooting around she had been forced to just give up her last reservations and go for it. What he'd said about her not being a slut had eased something in her, and she'd finally been able to just relax and let herself want to orgasm…. of course he hadn't given her much choice in the matter about wanting that. After being brought to the very edge about a million times and then left to dangle there, she felt like her clit was literally on fire. Everything in her was screaming for it, which made the decision easy once her last reservation had been shattered.

After finally forcing her to say what he wanted, thankfully he didn't waste any more time, and when he started up again she sighed and arched into him, feeling the heat coil up tight inside. When that coil finally snapped, a rush of intense sensation and relief flooded her body. From the tail of her spine to her pubic bone, pleasure zapped her until every sense felt like it had fried and gone to another world. There was no hope of controlling how her body moved – not that she really cared to do so anymore anyways. The only thing she tried to do was keep her thighs from clutching his head too tightly as she bucked up spastically into his mouth and her whole body convulsed.

A deep groan from him and the continued movements of his tongue sent another round of shudders through her, and she choked out some sort of garbled moan which possibly resembled his name as another wave broke over her. It felt like it went on forever, until finally the sensations began to ease and her body trembled to a halt. Almost as one, every muscle in her body suddenly seemed to lose the ability to work, and she fell limp back to the mattress, gulping in air and feeling a tiny bit dizzy.

Soul sat up, and she heard him slurp, probably to suck in some drool. "Wow…that was fucking awesome, Maka."

His voice sounded almost as dazed as she felt, and she couldn't help but chuckle. Somehow she managed to peel her eyes open and stared up at him blearily. "Shouldn't that be my line?" she croaked, her throat hoarse.

He flashed her a grin, looking smug. "Good to know it was awesome for you too."

She rolled her eyes and closed them again, feeling like she was going to go to sleep. That was the hardest she had ever orgasmed…probably because she'd had to work for it so hard. The bed shifted and his warmth and weight settled over her, hot breath on her face now.

"But it really was awesome for me too…I loved seeing you orgasm." He whispered, sounding a little awkward like he was embarrassed to say it now that they were out of the heat of the moment.

She could feel herself flush with pleasure. Somehow knowing that he had enjoyed making her feel good, made heat coil back up in her belly. Of course it had been the same for her when she had made him orgasm last time… she had loved every bit of it.

Her thoughts were derailed when she felt him settle between her legs and remembered that he hadn't orgasmed yet.

As he lined up, he muttered, "Is this okay?"

She nodded and lifted her arms and legs to wrap around him, even though her muscles were still trembling a little. He must have put on a condom while she was out of it because there wasn't any awkward fumbling before he pressed into her. He slid in easily with all the leftover wetness from her orgasm, and she sucked in a breath at how quick he entered, the sensation shocking her back fully awake from her slightly drowsy mindset.

Like last time, his movements were a little jerky and uncoordinated, probably because he was already insanely aroused. She could feel just how hot his blood was running right now through their soul link, and how hard he was trying to wrestle himself under control so he could make this last a little bit. Rocking her hips up into his thrusts helped smooth out the movements a little, and after a moment things seemed to lock into a rhythm for them. Despite how she could feel that he wanted to go fast and hard – both with the way his body was shivering against her and through their widening resonance – he slowed himself down to long slow strokes, which felt amazing.

It was a strain for him though, and it wasn't long before his muscles were trembling and sweat had slicked his skin. Drool appeared on his lip and he slurped it back into his mouth absentmindedly, and she watched as his sharp teeth started chewing on his lower lip.

It wasn't long before he was starting to mutter under his breath, and when his head fell onto her shoulder she could pick up some of the words. "F-fuck…Maka…shit…feels so good…g-gonna…damn it…M-Maka…love you…fuck…this is…"

Mostly it was disjointed words and phrases, and then they cut off as he latched onto the pillow and bit down on it. He continued to moan though through the mouthful of stuffing, and Maka found herself answering him without thinking too much about it, finding the sound arousing. As he sped up she sucked in her breath, feeling heat coiling tight in her belly again at the sensations of him rubbing up against all the nerves inside her. He kept hitting something deep inside, and when his hand latched onto one of her knees and hiked it up higher around his waist, suddenly he was pounding into that spot on every thrust, making her moan along with him. Their resonance rate had grown tighter than she'd thought possible and they were sharing sensations now. His pleasure was ramping hers up right alongside it, while hers was driving him higher as well.

Finally, she felt him seize up, and his thrusting grew jerky and then stopped altogether as his soul shuddered against hers. She felt the blast of sensation that numbed out his brain through their soul sync, and it nearly sent her into another orgasm. Her clenching spastically on him drew his orgasm out longer, which pushed her even closer through their resonance. They rode out his peak together, and then after a long moment he collapsed on top of her, gasping and drooling into her shoulder as he came down from his high.

Despite the exhaustion weighing him down, she felt him pull back and he fitted a hand between them without dislodging himself from inside her. He was still hard at the moment, and when his thumb found her clit she gasped and clenched on him.

"I want you to cum again Maka…I can feel how close you are…" he panted into her ear. And she groaned, bucking her hips up into his and widening their resonance even more.

Despite his exhaustion, he was still aroused enough to get pleasure from her movements and from watching and hearing her, and with their closer soul link she felt his encouragement soul to soul. It took less than a minute to get her to fall over the edge again, and she jerked and cussed as his thumb shoved her headfirst into another orgasm. He cussed as well and his soul shuddered alongside hers as she squeezed him rhythmically, which apparently still felt good to him even though he'd already orgasmed.

It took a long moment for her to stop quivering, and then finally she went limp, her legs falling off his hips and trembling next to his own on the bed. With a grunt he slid out of her and took care of the condom, then collapsed next to her with a sigh. As she curled into him and rested her head on his chest, he wrapped an arm around her and hugged her close.

"So how was that?" he asked after a while, sounding still a little out of breath but a bit smug now.

She lightly slapped his chest. "I still think you're a jerk."

He burst out laughing and hugged her tight when she tried to squirm away from him in aggravation. "Sorry, sorry. Yeah, I know. I was an ass." He snickered, sounding thoroughly unapologetic.

"Well…just don't do it again okay?"

"You seemed to like it actually…."

She groaned. It was kind of true in a way, but being kept on the edge that long had been incredibly frustrating too. "Oh shut up."

He snickered for a moment longer and then finally seemed to let it go. "Well whatever. I'm just glad you finally got over your last big issue. Now we won't have any more problems."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah…"

They both settled down and it wasn't long before they had drifted off to sleep.

After about an hour of rest, they both woke up, slightly disoriented from the nap. Maka woke up first and blinked, momentarily confused about why she was in bed when the clock read after two. As she shifted, Soul grunted and then woke, his red eyes blinking open and staring up at her as she lifted onto one elbow. Of course by now she had remembered what had put them in bed naked together, and she couldn't help the soft smile that curled her lips.

He gave her a matching smile, and she bent to give him a small kiss. When they parted, he mumbled, "Love you," somewhat awkwardly, and she laughed before leaning in to give him another kiss.

Neither of them were great with expressing emotion sometimes, but at the moment she had no problems saying, "And I love you."

The awkwardness fell away completely as he beamed at her. They cuddled together for a while longer, but when Soul started drooling onto the top of her head, she determined that it was time to get up.

After getting dressed, they exited Soul's room, only to come face to face with a certain cat in human form sitting on their couch reading a magazine. Maka stalled out, feeling a wave of discomfort wash over her at the thought that she might have overheard them going at it.

"Oh, uh, hi Blaire. How long have you been there?"

Blaire glanced up and then a smirk curled her lips. "Since you two were making out in the kitchen. You seemed busy, so I decided to read Cosmo." She waved the glossy magazine their way. "Hey, there's an article about how to make a guy have multiple orgasms…you wanna read it?"

All Maka could do was groan and wonder if this was going to be how the rest of her life went…being with Soul in every way possible and dealing with smirky magical cats with an inappropriate sense of humor. In a way, it wasn't a terrible thought. As odd a family as they made, it was one that she wouldn't give up for anything.

At that moment, the door burst open to admit a terrified Crona. "Help! Maka! She's gonna get me and I don't know how to deal with her!"

He ran to try and hide behind her as Patty raced into the room, wielding a banana and a condom. "Come on Crona! You need to know these things!" The maniacal cackle following her statement negated any sort of concern it might have expressed.

All Maka could do was laugh and think that she had found the family she had always wanted, one that would never abandon her, would love her unconditionally, and that she could love completely without any fear of being hurt. Glancing over at Soul, they shared a content look and their souls intertwined, warmth and happiness flooding them both.

And then Maka had to deal with Patty and her condomed banana.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Well, that's it folks. The final chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed the lemon. ;)

And yes, I did change my username, just in case anyone noticed and was curious. I hope it didn't cause any problems when finding the update.

I am sad to see this story end...it's been a really wonderful ride, and I enjoyed getting to know all my regular reviewers. My next story will be a Fairy Tail fanfiction, so I hope to see some familiar faces there, I know I mentioned that last time too, but I figured I'd throw it in again. :D

I'll be checking back periodically for new reviews, like I do on all my stories, so feel free to review even after I've marked it as completed. I'll get them, I promise. ;)

Anyways, as always, I really appreciated all the wonderful reviews I got, not only on this chapter, but for the whole thing. You guys have been absolutely fantastic for the whole duration. It was truly wonderful to write this for you. :D

Well, see you on the next story. Bye!


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